A Bullet for a Broken Soul
by Savage324
Summary: Gun Gale is a place we're people go to have fun, earn IRL money, and make friends. But for some, it's to escape the horrifying lives they've been forced to lead. For a certain white-haired mercenary assassin sniper player, she walks the dangerous sands to escape the voices inside her head...the same voices that remind her of what she has done...what she hates to admit she enjoyed..
1. I: The Mercenary Sniper

I laid prone in a shattered and decaying tower, my cheek resting on the cool metal butt of my sniper rifle.

The wind blew harshly through the structure, causing metal wires and tethers to sing into the dry atmosphere. To the south, there was a slow rolling sandstorm, which was probably going to roll over the area in an hour or two. Far below, the coarse sands blew across the «South-West Wastelands», continuing its long honored tradition of eroding away what humanity had left behind in this world long before any of us were here. The skeletons of buildings were few and far between out this far from «SBC Glocken», but this area was an exception. A small town had survived the harsher of the weather thanks to the lower elevation of the builds with respect to the surroundings, located west of my position. It was effectively in a bowl, sitting under the winds and the sands. A well preserved town like this, no matter how small, made the perfect area for a Squadron to make a makeshift base of operations. The tower that I was in was a good seven-hundred-fifty to a thousand meters away, the maximum effective range of my rifle. However, it was well within my abilities. The limiter here would be the equipment, not the marksman.

Glints of metal flashed in my eyes, the enemy's weapons catching the cruel sun's last few rays.

I reflexively tightened my hold in the grip of my sniper rifle, the rough grip-assisting metal gave no protest. The tough, yet flexible material of my «Elite Marksmen's Meta-Steel Gauntlets» prevented the sand paper coarseness of the metal from drawing blood. I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as I prepared to deal with the enemy. The cables that hung from the open sided walls of the slightly tilted tower told me the winds had died down, their frayed ends barely moving. I looked down the upgraded sight of my «Dragunov Sniper Rifle» keeping my itching trigger finger on the trigger guard to keep the bullet circle from appearing. I wouldn't want my cover to be blown if they had some hacked early warning system that I hadn't heard about that used the bullet circle as its trigger.

The likelihood of that happening was at an all time low, since none of the players that I was fighting today would have the need for something like that. However, I didn't want to make the mistake of not being prepared for anything. Not to mention that I was using the scope to watch the enemy instead of taking aim, so I wasn't planning on pulling the trigger just yet. I shifted my weight, reaching into a storage pouch on my customized «Shock Trooper's Utility Belt» to find the device my employers gave me for the mission. The cell phone was like those from the real world, making it seem as though it were a relic in the context of the game. On it were pictures of the three leaders of the Squadron I was hired to target. I pulled up the pictures and referenced them with the men that I could see through my scope.

One man with a greasy dyed-pink mullet, basic soldier armor, and a mask like that of a futuristic hockey player walked into view. He was lugging around an assault rifle with a triple-combination sight, using an «ACOG» (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight), «Holographic Sight», and «Laser Sight». This only used up one gun-rail on his «M4A1 Carbine Rifle», leaving the other three open for other equip-able items. This sight was one of the rarest in the game, a testament to this Squadrons power in raiding and PvP looting. The one that was currently in my sights was the Second-in-Command of the Squadron known as the «Wasteland Marauders».

Another stood beside him, timidly fidgeting with a holographic PDA and his item inventory. I caught words like "Registry" and "Funds Roster" in the fast moving feed of information coming from the PDA in the small man's hand. The large, almost steam-punk styled googles that he had over his eyes gave him the appearance of a nervous hamster or mouse. Appearances aside, this was a man that I was hired to take out. His ability to calculate where monsters and people alike would appear based on algorithmic processes that he had memorized was something that made this particular Squadron much more formidable than it was before the boy had joined. His skills with these processes had earned him both the nickname «Clairvoyant Arithmetician» by the population of players of Gun Gale Online...and a slot on my kill list.

Last was their leader himself, one of the strongest players to grace GGO since the death of «AGI»-centered players' popularity. The man that placed strength above all else and looked at speed and stealth as worthless wastes of skill points. He was one of the select few that could carry around a «Minigun» with no «Weight Penalty», making him in the top three in terms of max «STR» stats. His red, dark yellow-highlighted hair looked like fire, complementing the burning passion of fighting that was ablaze in his eyes. He sat calmly in a chair within an open air tent, «Basic Rations» getting shoveled down his throat as he ate at a fold-out table. His build was rumored to be reflective of his real life body, which was allegedly a body-builder. Many feared him and the Squadron that he commanded, which was thriving with enough gunmen to wipe out the harder of the wide-spread raiding areas of the game. Because of his fiery hair and his burning gaze everyone knew this man by the name «Hellfire».

These were the ones that I was hired to kill by my employers.

I was a mercenary in the world of GGO, working alone but for anyone willing to pay enough. The one's that gave me this job were the rivals of the «Wasteland Marauders». They were humiliated in a show down against them about a week or so ago, and one of their prized items was lost in a wager. A secondary objective, which would double my pay if completed, was to retrieve that item.

I took another deep breath, clearing my head of the idle thoughts swimming through my head as I whispered to myself, _One bullet, one kill, zero survivors._

"How long are you going to wait, Shiro?" My observer asked, sounding impatient, "The Squadron's getting antsy!"

"Not much longer," I responded in a low monotone, paying almost no heed to the scrawny kid's complaints.

The name «Shiro» came from the kanji of my avatar's name «Shiroi Yurei», which meant "White Ghost". I made the name with the idea in mind that I would make a character that was like a ghost. Also, my hair was white, which resulted in the name. I personally didn't think it was all that amazing, but it seemed to stick. I went by «Shiro» in-game, but also in real-life since my name was Mashiro and the kids that knew me liked to nickname everyone.

"Well, they wanna take these scum out ASAP, okay?" The boy, Tracer, complained, "If this doesn't happen soon they might just kick me out of the Squadron!"

"Not my problem," I brushed him off, my finger slowly moving from the guard to the trigger.

"How could you say-"

" _Knock it off, Tracer,_ " My employer, the leader of Tracer's Squadron interjected with a harsh tone, " _You're annoying our lovely honorary member._ "

"Y-Yes sir," Tracer responded, "Sorry, sir."

I'd already started to ignore the bickering among the Squadron's comm channels, the radio set that hung off my ear turned down to the lowest volume setting, "Target One, in sight. Target Two and Target Three insight."

" _Roger_ ," The leader, Discord, responded, " _You can choose who to take down first, we'll cover you until you can move and reset the enemy's ID information._ "

"Copy." I responded.

The bullet circle expanded and contracted at an unusually fast pace due to the fact that I was at the extreme range of my weapon. It wouldn't effect the outcome much anyways. Another deep breath and I felt myself slip into a state of absolute calm. My heartbeat slowed to almost nothing, my anything that wasn't being used to help me aim was ignored by my brain. There was nothing that was distracting me as I controlled my breathing, the bullet circle's oscillations and size range shrinking drastically. When the bullet circle was at its largest at that point, I slowly inhaled as it began to shrink. When it reached its smallest point, I held my breath. It was as if my body had died for that instant, everything still and silent. The bullet circle stayed at its smallest for a second more than the last oscillation, meaning all of the concentration I was using only bought me a second more of fully accurate fire at this range, but I only needed a tenth of a second. The world was moving so slowly that the one second the bullet circle remained small felt like an entire minute, allowing me to make one last adjustment. Then I pulled the trigger.

The kick of the rifle was my reward, shocking me slightly out of my forced calm state. The bullet sailed through the air, through a small gap between buildings, straight in between the eyes of the powerful «Clairvoyant Arithmetician». His body crumbled, shattering into a shower of red glowing polygons. I exhaled, my body feeling like it was starving for oxygen despite the fact that this was a VRMMO.

I heard orders being yelled in the distant town, as well as in the headset I had attached to my ear the next instant after the sound of my rifle broke the tranquil silence of the «South-West Wastelands». Tracer was staring at me, disbelief plastered on his face.

"How did you-?" He began to say, but I ignored him.

My priority was not to explain how amazing my skills were, or how I had gained them, but to move to the next sniping spot. I took my sniper rifle and folded the stock from the body, cutting down on the over all length of the rifle by ten inches, then went on to close up the rifle's bi-pod. Ejecting the magazine and the remaining chambered round to ensure it wouldn't go off during the move to the new site, I took the painted-black sniper rifle and slung it over my small shoulder so that the barrel of the rifle pointed at the ground. Tracer, snapping out of his daze, quickly followed me as I moved out.

The only reason Tracer was with me was because the group that hired me wanted to make sure I did my job. They were paying a high price for my rifle and I, so I couldn't really blame them. Frankly, though, I could have done without Tracer's useless nagging. Unfortunately, he was the only one in my employer's Squadron that had the «Acrobatic» skill and «AGI» stats high enough to keep up with me.

We were walking towards the furthest wall, which faced completely away from the town where a massive firefight began to break out. Without hesitating, I bolted for the edge, hurling myself over the edge.

Tracer, complaining the entire way, soon followed. We fell at a frightening rate, judging from the way Tracer was mumbling to himself about how he doubted my sanity levels. Just as I predicted, a cable that had been dangling from the top of the tilted tower swayed our way in the wind. Trusting in my highly-rated equipment, I grabbed for the cable. The simulated discomfort that should have been a severe case of friction burn was heavily damped by my gear's stats, my slightly-higher-than-average «STR» stat allowing my grip strength to be more than enough to slow my decent.

Tracer, however, was not so lucky.

Ironically, despite the fact that my «LUK» stat was infinitely lower than his, with it being completely zero, Tracer fell further than I did. He grabbed onto the cable, trading in his «Hit Points» for a reduction in speed as he endured the friction burn. He barely stopped when he reached the end of the cable.

"I'm...Never doing that again..." He said in between jagged breaths.

I shrugged, continuing on down the cable until we reached a low enough level to where we could jump to the surface.

Moving as quietly as we could through the rough sands, we closed in on a slightly-taller than average building south of the town that used to be a hospital. Making sure that we weren't spotted, I slipped into the building without a single sound. Immediately, I scanned the area to make sure there weren't any traps or ambushes waiting to happen. After I was satisfied with the emptiness of the former hospital, I climbed the stairs and repeated the process until I was on the roof.

From the top of the building, I could see down the main road that ran through the town. The wide expanse between the buildings was «No-Man's-Land» as one side was occupied by the enemy and the other by my employers. Tracer began to mumble again as I dropped down to the ground and low-crawled to the edge from the roof's entrance. Stopping at a blown out portion of the edge's retaining wall, I unslung my sniper rifle and extended both the bi-pod and the stock. The cool metal still warm from when my face rested on it not two minutes ago, I looked down the scope once again. The harsh sun was behind me, so there was no need to worry about glare off of the lens, which made things far less complicated than they should be. Satisfied, I pulled out the bullet and magazine from my belt, feeding the extra bullet before loading the magizine. I opened the bolt of the rifle, and closed it to chamber a round. The preparations were almost complete, leaving only adjusting my scope for the new distance from the target.

"Where'd those two go?" Tracer asked, having crawled up behind me and using a pair of binoculars.

"Third building down, two floors up," I responded.

The Second-In-Command of the «Wasteland Marauders» was taking aim with his legendary-rated sight, the accuracy buff it gave him allowing him to tear through the soldiers of the opposing squadron. However, I knew that the bigger threat was their leader himself. Despite my better instincts to wait and see if he would show himself, I would have to settle for the Second-In-Command.

Taking aim, I gauged the distance from myself to the target. About five hundred meters, give or take, well within the range of my «Dragunov». I looked down at the clock in the top right of my vision, confirming that the waiting period for my next shot was over. Then I looked down at the temperature and wind direction. The temperature at the level we were at was around two to three degrees warmer than the tower's highest of floors, and there was a cross wind instead of a tail wind. Adjusting my aim to properly compensate for the weather changes, I let my finger ease onto the trigger.

The bullet circle's oscillations were tamer than my prior shot, but they were changing laterally because of the winds. I inhaled deeply, the bullet circle responding as I slowed my heart-rate and cleared my mind.

 _One bullet, one kill, no survivors._

That phrase mentally prepared me for the shot, calming me down and eliminating all doubt in my mind. As the bullet circle shrunk it to its minimum, sliding over the pink hair of the Second-In-Command, I closed my finger around the trigger.

The feeling of the rifle kicking into my small frame came in the same instant the Pink-haired targets head became nothing more than a shower of polygons with his body. I let out the breath that I was holding, making sure to stay still a little longer than before. I was much closer to the action now, so there was a higher chance of being spotted. after moving from my firing position. A full thirty seconds passed by, then I repeated my previous steps of packing up my rifle before I moved for the next and final sniping location.

My employers radio channel was yelled out statements of praise and surprise at the success of my shots, reporting that the enemy was almost about to retreat out of fear for their lives. I moved on, low crawling back to the entrance to the stairs to make sure that we weren't spotted.

"That was amazing, Shiro!" Tracer exclaimed while whispering, "You barely took any time to aim for that one!"

"It wasn't that amazing," I countered, slipping up and and around obstacles with my «Acrobatic» skill, "Couldn't have been easier."

"He was like _five hundred_ meters away!" Tracer sounded dumbfounded, "How is that supposed to be easy?!"

 _Anything is easy compared to the Real World...Compared to Hell._ I almost spoke those words aloud.

I ignored the last comment, moving through the destroyed rubble of the former hospital until we came upon a blown-out wall with sand spilling through it. The wall the hole was made in faced away from the town and lead to an area of small cliff faces that would afford me a great vantage point for my final shot. There was nothing standing in the way of this mission now.

" _Tracer, get White Ghost outta there!"_ Discord yelled into the radio, " _The Squadron's other members are charging in on buggies right behind your position!_ "

My eyes widened slightly, my eyes glued to the south. Sure enough, I could see a massive front of sand that had small black dots scattered at its base. The sounds of the dune buggy engines washed over my ears, instilling a sense of urgency. It was too late, they had caught us just when we reached the midway point between our last position and our final one. If I continued onward, they would still spot the two of us and corner us in the mountains before we could free-run up the sides. If we went back to the hospital, they would simply blow it away with rocket launchers and grenades. Tracer, as expected, offered no help in the situation with his panicking.

"I really don't wanna die!" Tracer exclaimed, holding the small sub-machine gun he had brought along, "I say we just log out and wait a bit before we come back, yeah?"

"Logging out here would still spell death," I said plainly.

"What?!" Tracer looked fearfully at me, "What do you mean?"

"You'd be logging out in enemy territory," I said, barely looking at him as I tightened the strap on my rifle so it wouldn't move. "They're smart enough to set a trap where you logged out, so you'll have to die one way or the other."

"Then we can hide then log out in a place were they can't reach us!"

"Run away?" I glared with a glare as ice cold as my irises, "If you can't face death in a fake world you have no right living in the real world! If you don't want to die, then take out as many as you can so they won't kill you!"

"Why-?" Tracer asked, his eyes wide, "It's just a game! This isn't real life!"

"Fine," I said, turning away from the small man, "Run. See if I care. Just know that it wasn't in my contract to babysit cannon fodder...You tools hired me to kill, so that's want I'm going to do."

"You're crazy..." Tracer said, slowly backing up, then running for the cliffs, "Don't blame me when you're dead!"

I immediately forgot about the man, cracking my knuckles in preparation. I rolled my neck like some stereotypical fighter and reached for my secondary weapons. The buggies closed in faster and faster, close enough that their war cries and shouts reached me.

I stood out like a sore thumb in the landscape. Despite my main stats focus being that of a infiltration-minded sniper, centered on stealth and accuracy, my gear was colored white with only two other supplementary colors. The legendary item that I received in defeating a dungeon by myself was known as the «Ghost Assassin's Robes». The robes themselves were a form-fitting chest-piece, that had material that went down to the middle of my shins. The material was a special bullet-resistant cloth that acted like linens. My belt was fastened over it, so it made the material act like a long-coat. The material was in four sections, two that were in line with the front of my legs, one that was shorter than the others that hung in front of my crotch, and another lager piece that covered my backside from view. There was a space between them at the side of my thighs, exactly were I had the holsters for my side arms. A bandoleer crossed from my left shoulder down to my right hip, a row of extra rounds fished through the slots. A large hood was also attached to the collar, but i never felt the need to wear it. The robes came with their own armor as well, which included the chest-piece and two spaulders for my shoulders. Since it was a sniper-oriented item, the right spaulder much smaller than the left to make it easier to settle against the stock of the sniper rifle. The sleeves of the robes reached down to my wrists and were very form-fitting. The majority of all of this was colored evenly white and black. My knee-high armored boots, my padded and form-fitted pants, as well as the metal of my gauntlets were all predominately white and accented by black. My belt would be included in that group as well.

The reason their look and color were so important was simply because of their notoriety. Throw in my avatar's white hair and small frame, and you had one of the most known assassin players in GGO. Or at least one of the more stared at. My white clothes were an allusion to my nickname. The name that everyone knew me by instead of my avatar's name. The same nickname as the most successful sniper in history, one that racked up five hundred kills in a months time by himself. The name was given to me when my name was placed in the weekly leader boards for most kills-to-rounds ratio. The majority of gun freaks in GGO were also huge fans of war legends, so they threw the nickname on me the instant they placed the righting kill count to my avatar's white hair.

It had become such a monotonous thing with my avatar that I requested the legendary drop be changed from its completely black scheme be changed to white by a tailor. Soon enough, I made regular trips to the same tailor, requesting all the new gear that I planned to wear have the same treatment. What resulted was a gear-set of legendary stealth and agility gear that was in the most flashy color one could request.

"It's the White Death!" The leader of the reinforcements yelled, "Looks like we get ourselves a massive payday!"

"Yeah, boy!"

"Hell yeah!"

"Let's roll!"

They all called out with excitement as they readied machine guns and their personal weapons. The sounds of tens of players readying themselves to take out a small female player who stood all by herself filled the air, drowning out the fighting in the town behind me. As they grew closer, their «Bullet Lines» rocketed towards me. Almost all of them were close to me, but they weren't going to touch me. About ten, however, were going to hit me unless I made some evasive maneuvers. I couldn't afford to take more than three side arm shots with the amount of health I had. Since I never needed a lot of «Hit Points» due to the fact I never was within range of my enemies' weapons, I barely allocated any points towards the «VIT» stat.

The sound of the swarm of machine guns, rifles and side arms firing all at once crashed into my ears. I'd already knew which bullets were first and the order of the ones that came next. With my «AGI» stat one of the highest in the game, including the uncommon «Acrobatic» skill at my disposal, dodging the bullet were easy after figuring out the bullets' order.

I waited until the last second, then ducked low. Just as the bullet was clear of my body, the next one was about to hit my leg. Any damage to my legs would spell defeat for me, since I relied solely on speed to escape taking damage. I jumped up and back, performing a back hand-spring. This allowed me to dodge the remaining eight by the skin of my teeth. Three graze my sides, causing minor «bleeding» damage but not enough to be of concern for the moment.

I took that opportunity to plant my feet and hurled myself high into the air. Flipping backwards, I reached for my secondary weapons, which were holstered on the side each thigh. With the special skill «Akimbo» I was able to wield two secondary weapons without an «Accuracy Penalty». If I didn't have that special skill, earned from countless hours wielding two pistols in dungeons to get more experience points in that ability, I wouldn't have been able to put two bullets into the skull of their leader from twenty meters away as he moved closer and closer to me.

The buggy, which was about to ram me at sixty kilometers per hour, swerved to my right as the driver realized he was the one that was next. I didn't aim for him, however, since my goal of not getting turned into a human pancake was achieved. The rain of bullets continued without mercy, pounding into the ground as it kicked up the sands at my feet. I whirled around, putting just enough bullets to kill into every target that I shot at. Two bullets per skull, taking into account the «Critical Hit Damage Multiplier», were enough to take out their health. It was all a blur as I dodged and weaved, taking my chances as they came to kill off one enemy at a time. A bullet grazed my cheek, the pressure of the bullet passing by my head almost rupturing my ear drum. I grimaced, ignoring the discomfort as I continued to evade.

I jumped up once again, avoiding withering fire from the machine guns mounted on the buggies. However, a «Bullet Line» locked on to my fore head. My eyes widened, realizing that while I was in mid air, there was no way that I could dodge it. A shot that hit me in my head would spell death instantly. I had barely even touched the «VIT» stat, and I wasn't wearing a helmet, so there was nothing stopping that one bullet from ending me. It merely had to be a round bigger than nine millimeters to result in my first death in front of others since my starting days of the game. But the bullet, much to my relief, was never fired.

"Cease fire!" A bold voice roared over the gunfire, "Cease fire!"

The men that were shooting at me, now at only three quarters of their numbers now, complied immediately. The red lines coming from their guns vanished, and the dust began to settle. They all looked, with me, at the direction of the voice.

"I didn't think the «Night Battalion» was desperate enough to hire the White Death of all players," The leader of the squadron attacking me, «Hellfire», chuckled, "And here I was thinking that they were somehow good enough to pick off my two best men from right under my nose. Anyways, they're all dead now, beautiful, so you don't have to listen to their demands anymore."

I shook my head in response.

The commander cocked his head to the side with a confused and irritated expression on his face, "You want to continue a fight against half a Raiding Squadron in the open with no cover? Are you insane? There's no need to take a job so seriously, even for a «Merc» solo player like you."

I stood still, looking around for something that I could use. The massive man was right that I was in a pretty tight situation, surrounded by machine guns with no way to escape. My final target stood before me, the last barrier between me and my payday. Then something caught my eye, a small glint of the item from the massive man's broad shoulder. Strapped to his back was a rare variant of the «Milkor MGL», one that fired special «Plasma Grenades» that coated the area in fire after exploding. The amount of damage that weapon could do to large groups of enemies was invaluable to large Raiding Squadrons like the «Night Battalion» and «Wasteland Marauders». It was the weapon that would double my pay out. Now I had no choice but to attack, the credits that the grenade launcher and the leader's head would get me too great to ignore.

I holstered my right pistol and reached for my belt, a sphere with a hexagonal shaped depression at its top held in my hand.

"You have to be smart enough to know that one grenade isn't going to kill me, right?" The leader said, shaking his head, "I have more than enough health and my armor takes some of the damage. Seriously, just drop your pistols. It'll be our little secret."

I depressed the button on the grenade, the hexagonal button glowing a dim red.

"Fine then," The man said, shaking his head, "A man shouldn't kill a woman, especially not one so pretty, but you give me no choice. Take aim!"

That was all he could say before I threw the grenade at him. The grenades timer was almost up, the fuse about to reach the explosives. Just as it reached the massive man's face, the grenade detonated. I wasted no time, reaching for my other pistol and emptying my magazines into his skull. The amount of fire, including the fact that I was getting more and more damage with each consecutive head shot was something that no one in this group could have anticipated. That was why I took out the «Clairvoyant Arithmetician» and the Second-In-Command first. The timid man of the two would have known that I could have taken out their leader if I had gotten all my bullets into his head after the grenade, and the other man understood the importance of accuracy, and how much more damage one could rack up with the «Critical Hit Damage Multiplier». Both would have been present to warn him to be careful, and therefore ruining my only chance of getting the kill.

But they were dead, and he was next.

As my rounds slammed into his head, I could hear his yelp of surprise as he realized his health was withering down into nothing far quicker than he had ever seen before. I surged forwards, the gunshots of the Squadron that surrounded me firing blindly into the dust clouds created by my grenade. I could have dodged those rounds in my sleep as I raced for the leader and my pay check.

Before he knew it, I was right in his face, my ice blue eyes staring into his red eyes of fire. The battle between the two of us was all but over, as I planted the two of my pistols onto his face and blew it into polygons. The grenade dropped to the ground, the plastic and metal of the weapon making a dead thud on the ground.

I wasted no time, picking up the grenade launcher and running for the hills. Bobbing and weaving I reached a buggy that was unoccupied by the enemy and hopped into it. I didn't have much experince with driving the fast-accelerating machines, but I'd played a racing VR game enough to know the idea. Thankfully it was a the same as those games, almost down to the seat comfort level, so I wasn't worried

"Tracer, get your butt down here!" I yelled into the microphone that was still in my ear, all other chatter from the squadron stopping at the sound of my voice.

" _You're still alive!?_ " Tracer's voice sounded shocked, " _How did you-?_ "

"Now's not the time, get in the buggy!" I yelled over him and the sound of bullets ricocheting on the vehicle as I pulled out of the area and raced for where I last saw my observer, "I'm going to need your help if we're going to get out of this alive!"

" _Ro-Roger!_ " He exclaimed, just as I saw him appear from the mouth of a cave ten meters above me.

He jumped off, flying through the air before landing hard on the back of the buggy. He looked excited, scared, and nervous at the same time.

"Take this and give them hell," I said, handing him the legendary plasma grenade launcher.

"How the heck did you get this?" Tracer stared at me.

"Not important," I said, focusing on driving and dodging the buggies that were in pursuit, "Just take out as many as you can."

"Alright," Tracer said, standing and taking aim, "But what about the others, Shiro?"

"They either retreated or all died," I said quickly, "But that doesn't matter, so just shoot already!"

"R-Right!" The boy fired off a grenade soon after.

Surprisingly enough, the explosive detonated on a pursuing buggy, taking out the vehicle and the passengers in one go. The blue plasma fire was actually beautiful to look at, something that I never thought of about anything in this game so far. As we continued on, bullets bouncing off our vehicle and bullet lines criss-crossing my vision, the silhouette of «SBC Glocken» appeared on the horizon. If we could get there in one piece, then the game would not allow the players chasing us to perform any PvP action. «SBC Glocken» was the only safe area in the game near where we were. In fact, I didn't think there were any other safe-areas besides the space ship city. Not that it mattered at the moment, as a bullet whizzed by my head.

Explosions echoed across the wind-blown deserts of the «Wastelands», Tracer raining down fire on the enemy as they tried to kill us before the safe-zone activated. Decaying towers with lines hanging off of them, jagged rocks that reached into the twilight sky like the maws of monster, and the dunes of coarse sand all rushed by us as we raced for safety.

Suddenly, the gunfire that had been happening throughout the chase stopped. The sounds of the enemy's engine faded into nothing, as if I had been imagining the entire thing.

"They're...They're retreating!" Tracer exclaimed, answering my silent question over what had happened.

"Makes things easier, I guess," I said, looking around for anymore threats. Surprisingly, despite my paranoia, there was nothing else out there. We passed by the city's automated guard towers, the tall and massive guns standing sentry against bandit and monster attack. Even though we were in a safe-zone, I still found myself looking around for enemies as we slowly came into a parking lot on the outskirts of the city.

When we found an empty slot, the buggy next to us showed how much damage our ride had taken. Where there was a plain, almost rusted flat surface on the normal buggy, ours was clawed and scarred by explosions and bullet marks. I shook my head and hopped out of the vehicle.

A small window popped up before me:

 _This Vehicle is not registered under your account. Would you like to:_

 _1) Register the Vehicle_

 _2) Sell the Vehicle_

 _3) Leave the Vehicle_

I quickly chose the second option, not really seeing the need to pass up on the money. Tracer was already heading towards the stairs that would lead to the roadways. I followed behind, in no hurry to head back into the Glocken's filthy streets.

I took out a «Med-Pack» from my «Adventurer's Pack», and restored my health to its full capacity. I look a breath and allowed myself to relax slightly with the knowledge that the city was a safe zone. As the plain white bar of my interface went to full, I continued to follow behind Tracer. We walked along the highway that lead to the  
«Governor's Office», cars and buses zipping by at high speeds. There was a group of two-wheeled buggies piloted by a Squadron that comprised completely of players that rode motor-bikes IRL. There was no end of cat-calls as they passed us, rumbling off down the highway soon thereafter. Other pedestrians walked with their hands in their pockets, heads down in their interfaces or the ground.

The dark city was dotted with holographic street-lamps and signs, commanding the attention of whoever looked at them with their bright neon colors. Gothic-style architecture mixed with cyber-punk styled buildings rose from the ruins of a massive previous city. Smoke and smog from the pollution riddled atmosphere hung in the air, creating a haze that made long-range visibility worse than it already was. The over all gloom from the dimmed down neon signs advertising killing machines and supplies to the dark themed buildings created the perfect atmosphere for a game based solely on killing. The buildings rose high, but were completely and totally dominated by the «Governor's Office» and the «Presidential Estate». Those two colossal structures grew exponentially into the sky, the sliver of space between then them interupted by a floating ball structure that housed the «Presidential Suite». Their shadow was cast over the massive city constructed from the materials of a Space Battle Cruiser by the name of " _Glocken_ ", hence the name "SBC Glocken". The starting and ending world of Gun Gale Online; it was an escape for most, a home for some, and a sanctuary for a few.

As we came up on the first mix-master for the highway, we found a ladder and took it down to the ground floor. The "ground" really was a nexus of platforms that were the lowest you could go without leaving the safe-zone of «SBC Glocken». Below that web of flats and bridges connecting the various markets and shops was the ruins of a city destroyed in the war. The war that occurred long before the start of this game had left that city in nothing but rubble and crawling with powerful killing machines and mutant monsters.

This was where the raiding Squadrons would go every once in a while to get the best loot and items, running heavy losses. The fatality rate for those areas was abysmal, nearly ninety-eight percent regardless of skills and gear. If the group entering was knowledgeable enough, they could bring that down to eighty at best. However, where the risk is, the rewards are also. The loot in the dungeons was whole levels above what you could buy at the gun markets or trade with other players on the trade networks, drawing players to the ruins despite the risk of death.

I, as one of the players that had been in this game since it's release, knew how to navigate the areas and traps of the ruins to find the best loot. I would simply snipe off the monsters and machines from a distance before advancing. The others were not so lucky, going in large groups making it much harder to navigate the area quietly. My latest employer's and latest set of kills' squadrons were both extremely well known for their exceptional ability to come back in one piece from those ruins and the dungeons in the «Wastelands».

"We're almost there," Tracer said as we ducking into a filthy alley smelling even more potent than the rest of the city.

I silently followed, the creaking of a bulk-head door echoing down the alleyway. I took out a simple handkerchief from my inventory and tied it around my face, the black, white-accented cloth covering the bridge of my nose down from view.

As I entered the door with Tracer, my passive «Nocturnal Eyes» skill activated due to the abnormally dark room. Inside the room was a group of men sitting around a poker table with nuts and bolts for playing chips and faded cards in their hands. Half of them had cigars jammed into their yellowed grills, blowing smoke and contributing to the haze of the room. Tracer coughed as he took too deep a breath.

"Si-Sir!" Tracer said, meekly holding the grenade launcher before him, "We-We retrieved our Squadron's prized weapon, and eliminated the their entire leadership. The mission was a success.

"Excellent," Discord said, appearing from the shadows of the room and looking down on the two of us.

I was already leaning on the wall, crossing my arms and looking up at the massive man with my signature half-lidded and dead expression. The man had probably been taken out in the assault we'd just taken part in, re-spawning in this city and waiting here to hear the results. The rest of those present were in the same boat, disgruntled complaints of their loss of credits in their rumbling whispers. They were all looking over as Discord took the grenade launcher from Tracer, inspecting it.

"We barely made it out alive-" Tracer began to say, but soon was interuppted.

"You used it?" The massive man looked at Tracer with a skeptical eye, "On live enemies?"

"Had a field day too," One of the players at the poker table commented, "Look, there's only one round left!"

"S-Sorry," Tracer nervously laughed, "I guess my «AGI» stats weren't high enough for me to keep my balance on the buggy..."

"We can always buy more ammo," The leader of the Squadron said, "This thing somehow converts the standard grenade shells into the plasma type. A perk of being such a rare drop, I guess. Anyways, I believe we really have the White Death over there for our success, don't we?"

"Ye-Yes sir!" Tracer said, realizing his previous phrasing made it appear as if he'd done part of the work, "It was pretty much all her."

"I don't know what it is," Discord laughed, shaking his head, "But the small, quiet type girls in this game are always the scariest ones. I heard you took on the entire Squadron on the radio right before I was KO'ed. Glad we hired you instead of them, that's for sure."

I pushed off the wall, "All targets were taken out, and I got your launcher back."

"Right, right, the reward," Discord smiled holding up his hands in mock surrender, "Ever the textbook assassin are we, White Death?"

"Just Shiro is fine," I plainly responded.

"Right, right, whatever you say, beautiful," Discord said, swiping down for his menu

A new window appeared before me:

 _New Trade Request from:_ _«_ _Discord»_

 _Do you wish to accept?_

 _(Yes) -OR- (No)_

I quickly pressed the "Yes" option and the window vanished. Replacing that window was another with two columns. The left column had above it «White Ghost» in Kanji and below it were five slots for items and a small place to enter an amount of credits. The other column had the name «Discord» above it in English and was the mirror of my column.

The major difference between my side and Discord's was that in his side, his credit slot read: _1,550,000 Credits._

 _"_ That should be enough, right? Just like we agreed," Discord said, smiling again, "I even threw in fifty thou' from my own stash as a thank you for the scary good work."

I nodded, looking up after hitting the "accept" button on my window and securing the trade, "Appreciate the business. If you need me again, you know how to find me."

"That we do," Discord nodded, "And if any of my boys try to get too friendly on ya, don't worry about kicking their teeth in."

"Hey!" Tracer said, realizing that Discord was looking at him as he'd said that, "I wasn't trying anything."

" _Sure_ ," Discord said, messing with Tracer's black hair, "And I'm the Queen of England."

I turned around, swiping open my menu to confirm that I had received my reward. Happy, I silently left the room without saying good-bye.

I found a pub that was relatively empty, telling the NPCs that I wanted my usual spot. They recently implemented a system that gave the NPCs the ability to remember customers that frequented their shops more than once every five days on a regular basis. Since this place was where I usually logged out of the game, the NPCs allowed me an area that they'd even avoid giving to other players around the time that I'd show up. This preferential treatment that Zaskar added gave the in-between game time all the more real. The conversations with the NPCs were still choppy and repetitive, even animated, but it was leagues above the other games were NPCs only had a few lines and that was that.

I sat down on the stained and holey cushion of the booth that was essentially my own. I leaned forwards, resting my hands on the table. I unequipped all my weapons and put them in my storage. I rose from the seat, realizing that there were more people than usual, and headed for the women's restroom. There I changed into my avatar's other set of clothes. A simply pair of black cargo pants tucked into dark brown mid-shin-high leather boots appeared instead of my pants and armored boots. I replaced my legendary robes with a plain grey t-shirt, a hoodie with an abnormally large hood, and a dark green military styled jacket over the previous two. I wore the sleeves rolled up and halfway zipped up. I wore black half-fingered gloves and pulled down the handkerchief and let it hang around my neck. Satisfied, I returned to my spot in the booths and opened my menu.

 _Almost there,_ I thought to myself as I looked at my new total amount of credits, _Just a little more._

I took a breath and navigated the menu until I came up to the _Log Out_ button. Running through a mental checklist to make sure I took care of all my business before exiting, I pressed the button.

The world went black as I disconnected from the server.

* * *

My vision steadily returned, revealing the paneled ceiling of my room, a heavy sigh leaving my lips as I removed my AmuSphere.

The smell of antiseptic chemicals, stale bed sheets, and cleaning products filled my nose. The quick change from a place as grimy and filthy as Gun Gale Online to a location that was nothing but sterile items was hard to get used to. The chair beside my bed was topped with a new set of clothes that I had placed there before I had dove into GGO. Seeing as I went in knowing I was going to be in a high-stress situation, I knew I was going to want to take a quick shower to rinse off any of the sweat from my heart-rate increasing. I gently tossed of the covers from my bed, planting my bare feet onto the cool tile of my room.

I was in nothing but my underwear, the cool air from the air conditioner blowing a gentle breeze over my pale skin. A strand of my white hair fell into view as I looked down at the ground. Getting out of bed would mean facing another episode of the real world. Getting out of bed would mean talking to other people, people that seemed to hate me. I shook my head, a sad look on my face for a split second.

 _That was bound to happen as soon as I logged out,_ I thought bitterly, mustering the energy to swing myself out of the old mattress.

I grabbed the clothes and headed for my room's bathroom. The small shower was more than enough for my small frame, which was the same size as an eleven year-old's. In fact, there were eleven-year-olds that were taller than me in the same building. I was given the _blessed_ gift of being vertically challenged, while the rest of the kids were actually above average height. And here I was at the age of fifteen but smaller than

I turned on the shower, letting the hot water run as I took of my underwear. The water seemed to melt my body into mush, the stresses from dealing with someone as skittish and timid as Tracer falling away. It wasn't like I disliked him for it, though. It was just that he reminded me of me in a way.

Suddenly, the world went still, and there was an eerie sound that washed over my senses. It had to be my own imagination...it had to be. I could still slightly hear the sound of water hitting my naked body as I hugged myself for comfort and braced myself for what came next...

 _What do you think you're doing, girly?_

 _Think you can just relax while we rot here?_

 _I think we need to teach her a lesson again, don't we?_

 _Sounds like a great idea. Yeah, lets teach this_ ** _murderer_** _a few lessons!_

"Shut up!" I screamed into the void.

My vision tunneled as a deformed man's face faded into view from the wall. His eyes were bloodshot, his skull having a massive dent with bits of his scalp missing. Blood poured from the wound as if it had just been made. He was missing a set of teeth, his lip splitting as he grinned evilly at me. His clothes were soaked in blood, the crimson liquid dripping into the water before it went into the drain. He stared at me with is never ending grin, a knowing look in his eye. His skin was grey and pale, the veins underneath a darker shade. I could feel my stomach churn at the very sight of him as I lost all sense of reason.

"GET AWAY! STAY AWAY! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU..." I started to scream at the top of my lungs, my throat almost tearing from the sudden stress to my vocal cords.

"Miss Shima!" A nurse burst into the shower room, a frightened look on her face, "Calm down! You're okay...They can't hurt you here."

Suddenly, I was being jostled by the nurse. The man's gaze went to the nurse, his grin widening like a predator. I panicked pushing her out of the way just before his hands could wrap around her neck. She landed on her hands and knees, looking over her shoulder with a look of worry.

"Get out of here!" I yelled, my pale blue eyes wide, "They're trying to kill you!"

"Miss Shima...There's no one there..." The nurse said, looking at me as if I was about to hurt her, "Just calm down...It's okay...You need to breath, okay?"

"Breathing won't stop him! There are others!" I screamed, looking around, "Run! Run while you-!"

 _SMACK!_

The nurse surged forwards and brought her open palm across my right cheek _hard_. My head whipped to the side, the sting from the impact burning almost instantly. The image of the creepy man vanished into dust, his face still an image of evil intent. I blinked, my breath leaving me in ragged gasps. I looked around frantically, my eyes still wide. The jagged scar just under my left cheekbone, parallel to my jawbone, started to itch like it did every time I had one of these panic attacks. When my eyes fell on the nurse's worried expression.

"I...I'm s-sorry," I said, looking down at my white-knuckled fists. My nails were dug so deep into my palm that they'd drawn blood.

"That's alright, Miss Shima..." The nurse said, giving me a small and reassuring smile, "Come, let's get those bandaged up. Let's get you dressed. It's dinner time, and you don't want it to be cold when you get there, do you?"

"Okay..." I said in a small voice, looking away from her as I reached for my towel.

"This is the fifth time this week, Miss Shima," The nurse said with an exhausted tone, "And it's only Monday..."

I didn't respond, turning away completely as I dried my small body off. The nurse helped me with the spots that I missed, calmly helping me get dressed afterwards. Before that, she had retrieved a couple of rolls of gauze, wrapping my bleeding hands in the medical wrap after cleaning them. I flinched both when she approached and when she touched me, the feeling of her warm touch feeling like a burn instead of the gentle touch she'd intended. When she learned that she could just avoid touching my skin to keep me from nearly jumping out of my skin, I was fully clothed in a plain white dress.

I had a pair of hair pins, one a cartooned skull and the other a couple of bones that formed an "X", which kept the bangs of my messy white hair in check and out of my eyes. A large group of strands fell between my large, and undeniably innocent pale blue eyes. Three large strands of hair stuck out to the right of my head like I had a permanent case of bed-head, incrementally pointing outward until the last strand would aim more for the ground. The end of my hair fell all the way to the small of my back, and it would sway from side to side whenever I walked. In any case, I didn't care one way or the other how my hair looked, as long as it didn't get in my way.

"Alright then, let's go Miss Shima," The nurse said with a gentle smile.

I slightly nodded my head, keeping from making eye contact, "R-Right..."

The nurse lead the way, and I trailed behind her while holding a part of her top like a lost child. The other patients looked over at me, disgust or fear in their gazes as they glared at me. Sometimes it would be both at the same time. The adults would start to mutter among themselves.

 _"There she goes again...That Shima child..."_

 _"Did you hear her just now? She's head and shoulder's above the others on the crazy-scale."_

 _"I saw her yelling at a wall the other day, crying..."_

 _"She threw me out of my chair once, rambling on about the monsters that were 'after me'...Seriously, though..."_

 _"I know we work in a Mental Hospital...But I didn't sign up for an Insane Asylum..."_

I tried to ignore the whispers as I followed the nurse, keeping my head down. If I made eye contact with them, it would only get worse. I took a breath, shaking my head in an attempt to calm down.

All I could think about was how I desired to be like my avatar from Gun Gale Online.

A strong, powerful, and respected fighter that others clamored to work with. I wanted to be able to talk with others and not feel my heart constrict in fear of their reactions and expressions. To be able to run through gunfire, fighting off tons of enemies without so much as breaking a sweat. Not tremble at the sound of a door shutting every time I went to sleep. That was the reason I played GGO with all I had, to hopefully become strong enough in that game of killing and warfare so I could face a peaceful world without shaking in fear. I wanted to become strong enough to face the trauma that I had endured two years ago...

That's why I started to play GGO in the first place. To go to the hardest world to live in and become the strongest there was at all costs. That way, when I looked at this world, everything would seem easy compared to the harsh world of Gun Gale Online.

"Alright then, Miss Shima," The nurse said, stopping at the entrance to the cafeteria, "Make sure you eat a good meal!"

I looked at her with a pitiful attempt at a smile, but I think I ended up creeping her out with the result. She gave a small, courteous bow and moved on. The stares had begun before the nurse had even left, unyielding as I moved for the cafeteria's food line. Even the lunch ladies were a little awkward when serving me food, looking with anxious eyes as I left for an empty table. In the back of the cafeteria, there was a completely vacant table that was out of sight of everyone. It was the perfect spot for me, since I wouldn't have to feel everyone's eyes on me.

I silently put down my food, sitting gently down on the chair. The air in the cafeteria made me want to leave immediately, the way that everyone stared at me was not going to help me with getting any better. I was trying to get over my fear of standing out, and trying to fit in, but that was impossible. Everyone here knew about me, since someone leaked my file a year ago the rumors about the reason for my admission into this Mental Hospital...

* * *

Three years ago, in 2023, I was walking home from a school festival that I'd help run at the local high school.

I knew the Student Council President of that school, and she'd asked me to replace her Secretary after he'd fallen ill. The booth I had help run was a dango stand, which seemed to be very popular with all the girls from one class working it. I could see some of the male students were looking in places the girls wouldn't want them to. and with their faces a little flushed. After all, the girls were dressed up in revealing animal-girl cosplay. Even I could tell they were uncomfortable, but they were having fun nonetheless. After the stand was closed, I excused myself and headed home.

It was a cold night, my scarf and jacket doing their best to shield my small body from the chill. The usual way back to my house was slightly darker than usual, since there was a street light that had been taken out by a chance lightning strike. I heard that the electrical company was going to fix it sometime tomorrow.

I could see my house down the street, a good walking distance away at the end of the road. It was a mansion owned by may family, a well respected and powerful family that owned highly influential businesses. They were known throughout, officials and politicians visiting our estate frequently to kiss up to my mother. My grandmother, grandfather, and aunts and uncles all were over at my house quite a bit, always having fancy dinners and discussing specific business that went right over my head. The maids and butlers that were hired for us were seasoned veterans of the house-keeping world, only the best being accepted. Most of those same employees were also war veterans as well, acting as a line of defense should some terrorist party try to take my family for ransom.

I was the older of two children, my brother a mere year behind me. I was friends will everyone in my middle school, and had fun everyday in class. At least, that's what everyone thinks is true. The harsh truth, however, was that being the heir to such a powerful and influential business powerhouse was suffocating. Everything I did, said, and thought was taken scrutinized by my mother and grandparents. I had to be the perfect child for a perfect family, ignoring the fact that my mother would find it necessary to punish me for the smallest failures. I heard her say something about "training me" to be ready for the "real world", but I couldn't believe that what she did was for my own good. The only thing that I gained out of it were bruises that I had to hide at school and tears I had to hold onto until my head hit the pillow at night. The only solace that I could find was in my father, who was kind and compassionate towards me no matter what I did.

My father had been killed in a fire at our forest cabin in the mountains a year and a half ago. I had to watch him die trying to put out the fire while I stayed low to avoid the smoke. The fire should have gone out easily, but the fire extinguisher hadn't worked properly, and it wouldn't go out no matter what he did. Just as he coughed out his dying breath, he had smiled at me and said simply,

"I love you, Mashiro...I will always love you..."

Just when he'd said those words, the sirens of the fire department had arrived.

Later we found out that it was an assassination. Someone having set a fire bomb and sabotaged the fire extinguisher while also swapping it out with the wrong type. There was nothing that anyone could have done, they said. I was lucky to be alive, they said.

I cried for weeks afterwards.

My mother changed after that, becoming jaded and cruel to both her servants and me. She would be two faced, being kind and amazing to those that had influence, only to turn around and show her true colors when she returned home. I could hear her yell at waiters long into the night as I tried to sleep. I would be the subject of the yelling and punishment whenever the smallest thing would happen. Especially when my mother realized that I was the last person that my father had been with before he died, and held that against me.

And now I was returning to a home like that.

As I walked into the darker area under the broken streetlight, something moved in the shadows. Before I knew it, there were four men dressed in lower quality winter clothing surrounding me on all sides.

"Where do you think you're going, girly?" One said, his eyes gleaming with sadistic happiness.

"Think you can just walk by us like that?" Another said behind me.

"I think we need to teach this little brat a lesson, don't we guys?" Another with a massive grin snickered.

One pulled out a knife, the broken street light flickering on to glint off the shiny metal blade. The light cast harsh shadows onto his face, almost making him not even look human. Others were cracking their knuckles, rolling their necks as they got ready to use everything they had against a twelve-year-old girl with nothing more than a school bag.

"Lets see if a rich little girl like you bleeds money like they say!" The knife-wielder lunged forwards, cackling with excitement.

I reached into my bag, whipping out a can of pepper spray and emptying the small bottle into his face. As he screamed in pain, he dropped the knife at my feet. I instantly snatched the small weapon from the ground and held it before me. The seven inch knife was more like a short-sword to me considering my small stature, even for my age.

All I could hear was the words that my father had spoken to me one day, right after he had saved me from bullies, his calm and soothing voice echoing through my mind.

 _If someone attacks you, you attack back. If someone tries to kill you...you destroy them. Got it, Mashiro? If you're fighting someone that's trying to kill you, you better be the one that kills them first._

* * *

With a sigh I broke apart the disposable chop-sticks and bowed slightly at my food, "Thank you for the meal."

I silently ate my meal, shaking off the flashback of that night when my world turned upside down. I nibbled on the chicken, taking small bites of rice, but I wasn't all that hungry. Not to mention that I would probably throw it all up in another panic attack anyways. I had to be fed nutrients through an IV, which was mostly done while I was diving in Gun Gale Online, so that I didn't suffer malnutrition. Others in the cafeteria were always asking for seconds in the line, something that I doubted I could ever do. Then they would turn around and whisper to their friends about how I always leave with my plate nearly full, bitterness laced into their words. Suddenly, I felt eyes lock onto me, and I tried not to look around too much, praying that no one would bother me today.

Of course, my prayers were blatantly ignored.

"What do we have here?" A boy said as he approached with an entourage of kids in tow.

The group of them were all here for anger management and abandonment issues, cruel as ever to any one like me who was weak. The group snickered, the three of them all looking down on me as I held the leaders gaze as best I could.

"What do you want now?" I asked, trying my best to copy what I would do in GGO.

"Oh, a little back talk today huh?" The boy said, chuckling in a way that sounded eerily familiar, "I like it when they put up a little fight."

"Let's teach her not to talk back at us ever again!" One of the boys said, his eyes alight in sadistic cruelty.

"Go away," I said, looking towards my food, "I didn't do any-"

"Don't give me that crap, little Shiro," The boy said, slamming his open palm on the table next to my food and splattering it every where as he continued in a low voice, "You know a little weak kid like you doesn't stand a chance."

I looked down at my lap, the pair of wooden chopsticks still in my hands. Flashes of that night played before my mind, images overlaying with reality. For a split second, what I saw in my hands was a bloodied knife, dripping crimson onto the floor. I flinched, suddenly back to the real world.

The boy that was leaning over the table and invading my personal space was an eighteen year old that had the worst anger issues this side of Japan. He was rumored to be in a yakuza, one of the hit men that beat up those that opposed the gang. His companions were all boys without a cause, clamoring under the deranged high school aged like lost puppies. He never told me his name, but he knew mine. I don't know if it was because I was rumored to be a killer, or something to that effect, but he had made it a point to make my life a living Hell.

"Get up, Shiro," He said, his eyes alight with anger, "Its not smart to ignore me, y'know."

"And what if I say 'no'?" I said, looking up through a knitted brow, defiantly looking up at him

I actually surprised myself, along with the bullies, at the assertion in my voice.

"This'll happen," The boy said, grabbing me by my hair and ripping me down onto the ground.

He stood over me, reaching behind his back. When he pulled his arm out to bear, what was sitting in his hand instantly made my mind go blank. I couldn't think, couldn't breathe. When I tried to move, my body didn't respond.

The voices of those guys from that night started to rise out of no where. They called for me with lips cracked and faded, grabbing at me with hands that didn't exist, and stared at me with eyes that held no light. My body curled into a fetal position almost instantly after seeing what he held in his hand. My breath hitched, my eyes widening in fear. Flashbacks of that night washed over me like a tidal wave of terror. It was all I could do to stay conscious, my body fidgeting and trembling while it was curled in on itself.

"Where's that look now, little Shiro?" The boy said tauntingly, grinning evilly through his black bangs, "What happened? Scared of a little knife?"

"No...No...Stop it...Don't...Don't say it," I mumbled, eyes wide with fear, "Please, I'm begging you...Just don't say it..."

"What? Say what? Oh," He said, the cruel and malicious smirk growing into a full blown smile, "Could it be because...

 _It looks like the knife you_ _ **killed**_ _with?_ "

* * *

The guards didn't come until five minutes later, looking almost bored.

They found me crying from terror on the ground, trembling with my hand covering my ears. The group of boys had gone on to punch and kick me as I shook on the cold tile of the cafeteria, forgetting that I was almost unconcious from the fear alone. The entire time, I could hear the voices of those men from the incident...their expressions and yells as they were...were killed by me. I tried in vain to block out their haunting whispers, but I couldn't even stop hearing the boys' hateful comments as they beat me up on the ground. I couldn't do a thing about it, some of the strikes hitting my face and busting my lip.

In the end, the guards didn't even do anything, believing the boys' story that they were defending themselves from me wholeheartedly. They barely took any time to even ask me what happened, instead grabbing me roughly by my beaten arms. I let them take me, my hands still on my ears in a vain attempt to block out the sounds of the voices in my head.

The haunting sounds continued until I went unconscious from all the fear.

When I woke up I was in my bed again, stripped down to my underwear again with my slightly bloodied clothes having been cleaned and folded nicely on my chair.

It was as if I hadn't even gotten out of bed from my last session of GGO. However, the fact that my wounds from the beating were still bandaged and aching reminded me that it wasn't another nightmare. I looked over at the window, the blinds slightly open to reveal the lights of the city in the distance. It had been around noon when I had last logged off of Gun Gale Online, meaning hours had passed by since what happened in the cafeteria.

"When will this end?" I asked myself aloud, resting a forearm over my brow to block out the harsh fluorescent light above my bed.

I sighed, reaching over for my AmuSphere. The headset consisting of two rings, the front side having a beige-tinted glass piece that went over the eyes. This piece of hardware was going to be my salvation, I was sure of it. Inside the world it allowed me to enter, I was strong and powerful. Inside that world, I was everything that I wanted to be and more. I had the ability to face my fears, commanding them like a person commanded a well-trained pet. I could perform amazing things that I could never do in my malnourished body. I knew that one day, I would be able to forget those faces that haunted me, just like I could forget the fears that I held when I entered Gun Gale Online.

I had to...I didn't have a choice.

I slowly slid on the head gear, relaxing my body into a comfortable position so I wouldn't have any issues when I came back.

I felt my lips twitch into a small smile, the thought of entering the bullet-riddled world of Gun Gale Online exciting me.

"Link Start!"

* * *

 **Glossary:**

 **AGI- Agility ( Movement speed, bullet circle appearance and stabilization time, and evasive ability)  
DEX- Dexterity ( Narrows the area of the bullet circle, also needed to set traps)  
LUK- Luck ( Unknown )  
SEN- Sensibility ( Amount of sensory information that one can process, similar to awareness)  
STR- Strength (Amount of supplies and items that one carry, also determines types of wield-able weaponry)  
VIT- Vitality (Hit Points)**

 **P.D.A. - Personal Data Assistant**


	2. II: The White Death

Sinon sat in the pub she liked to frequent, sipping on a fruit drink she'd picked at random from the menu.

Her second home of Gun Gale Online was abuzz with the most recent war story. All on the channels were rumors of how half of the Raiding Squadron, the «Wasteland Marauders», had been defeated singlehandedly by a player almost no knew anything about. The only information that they knew about the player were the generic facts on could get from simply looking at her. The player was a girl. She had startling pure white hair. She was a sniper, like Sinon. She was also remarkably short. She was in line to be the most efficient PKer in the game, with barely any shots missing their mark as soon as they left her gun. She had the ever-so-rare «Akimbo» skill, able to wield dual pistols without any sort of penalty. She wore world-class items, all dyed white by a tailor, that made her look like an assassin, the «Ghost Assassin's Robes».

She was given the nickname of «White Death», alluding to the world's most deadly sniper.

Other than that, it was all speculation on the part of the rest of the Gun Gale Online player-base.

Some said that she was as cold as ice, that her facial expression didn't change whatsoever despite the situations she was in. Some said she hated people in general, since she was both a solo player and was almost never seen on the streets when others were around. Others would ramble on that she was a cheater, that there was no way she could have so many rare skills, abilities, and gear without being in a Raiding Squadron. Even few were spreading the ridiculous rumor that she was a killer in real life, simply taking her heartless skill set and giving herself an edge. Most agreed, however, that she was a force to be reckoned with. Also, the general population agreed that she was attractive, the lolicons of the game rejoicing that they had a girl to cheer for. Sinon shivered that the last thought.

The sniper of GGO that had been a co-winner of the Third «Bullet of Bullets», and the second place winner of the Fourth «Bullet of Bullets», was slightly interested with this rumor. If it was true, then there was another player that was not only a female, but a fellow sniper. Other than that slight interest, she really had no reason to pursue it. She had other things to do, like training for the Fifth «Bullet of Bullets».

She was scheduled to head into a dungeon area far out in the «Wastelands» with, ironically, with the «Wasteland Marauders». It seemed they now saw the value of having at least an outside player to provide support for their heavy-handed rushing style of game-play. That style of fighting, known to the war history freaks as «Blitzkrieg», had served them well until the incident with the Squadron's rival, the «Night Battalion», showed that they can be defeated every now and again. Sinon simply thought that the «Wasteland Marauders» simply weren't above including temporary help from different minded players like herself, a sniper.

As Sinon took another sip of her drink she looked over at the holographic clock in the run-down cafe. The time read _19:31._ She was scheduled to meet the Raiding Squadron a quarter till _20:00_ , meaning she would have to leave in a couple minutes to get there on time.

She took one last look at the cafe, the holographic signs advertising the newest beverages and foods. The floors were filthy, grease stained steel instead of something like tile. It was only natural since this was «SBC Glocken». There was no vegetation that could be easily found, so metal was the replacement go-to material for small businesses.

There was another customer present, a small figure with a hood over their head as they faced away from Sinon. There was a news feed that was about the «White Death» rumors open as they scrolled through with a hand wearing a half-fingered glove. With the way that player was situated there was no way to see their face without making it obvious to the other player. For some reason, Sinon found it interesting that someone would be visiting this out-of-the-way cafe. Even during the heaviest traffic on the server, almost no one visited this area. Maybe there would be a small group every now and then that would stop by, but other than that the clientele of the cafe was very small. Sinon came here often for that very reason, the nice atmosphere of the cafe, coupled with the relaxing quiet made it the best place for Sinon to wait if she logged in a little too early for activities. It was an added bonus that they made some pretty decent food and drinks.

Sinon decided that it would take too long to strike up a conversation, and left for the meeting sight.

Pretty soon, Sinon felt the figure following behind her...

* * *

I walked slowly through the streets of «SBC Glocken», hands in my pockets and my hood covering my white hair from view. I had that same handkerchief from my last log out pulled up over my face again. I wanted to avoid others' attention today, since that would cause me to be late for my latest job.

The rumors from my exploits at around noon were already blown out of proportion in the mere eight hours that I had been offline. I didn't want to have to deal with leery-eyes looks or people that didn't have the credits to pay me wasting my time requesting my help with quests. I especially didn't want to attract the attention of the types of players that ganged up on me to try and persuade me to join some random Squadron. These sort of things always happened when I took on and completed a big job, or was being watched by some other players while I raided by myself. I sighed, adjusting my hood so that my white hair didn't show as much, making me just a generic-looking player.

There was a bulletin that I kept tabs on for recruiting «Mercenary» players like me, and there was a decently paying job for sniper players that was available. The details were unknown, but the pay was all I really cared about. Though, judging by the fact that the pay was decent, and that they were looking for at least two snipers, I'd say they were a pretty well off group of players. Maybe they were looking for more help because some members couldn't make it for the raid.

I walked through the grime-infested streets of «SBC Glocken» with a silent foot-fall. It was more out of habit than anything, since I was mostly moving through this game as quietly as I could during my jobs. I couldn't help but feel that I was being watched, however, like there was always people spying on me whenever I walked through these streets that smelled of gun oil and smoke. The haze that was created by the city's smog always hung in the air, sudden releases of gas from various pipes adding to the artificial fog of the city. The neon lights of the highway were easily in sight from where I was, commanding the attention of passerbys with their dominating color-schemes. Advertisements for various firearms, both «Optical Guns» and «Physical Guns», as well as certain places that many visited, were plastered all over the city. At a certain point, you could even see airships that were floating through the sky, their massive broadsides bathing the world in the neon light of more advertising. Recently, there was a few reminder advertisements that the Fifth «Bullet of Bullets» was soon going to be open for registration. The day that registration was open was about three weeks from now, then the actual tournament started a week after that.

Shaking my head, remembering that I was supposed to be training for that very tournament. I was going to have to head back to the «Sub-City Ruins» area for some live-fire practice. Not that I really minded, since it gave me an excuse to stay in the game for longer than I originally planned. I looked up, scanning the alleyway that I passed, a small sign for a shop on the other side of town hanging off the side of a shabby townhouse-like building. It was in English, so I didn't know what it said, but I didn't really need to know.

That sign was the marker for the alleyway that I was entering. Everyone knew that this lead directly to the garages that housed special vehicles known as «Dune Drifters». They were like the buggies, but they had four wheels instead of three. They were cars instead of tricycle motorbikes. They were equipped with roll cages and mounted machine guns, along with special armor that increased their durability. There were storage containers that were in the back, which allowed for much more carrying capacity. They were expensive, so when players were told that they were going to meet up in the «Garage», they knew that the group that was hiring was going to have plenty of credits, or they were going to have to work to earn back the expense of using the vehicles.

That aside, they were a blast to ride in.

I turned into the next alleyway, keeping my head down as I slowly walked down the corridor. Even with my silent footfalls, I could hear the sound of boots hitting the concrete ground under me. There was a metal grate at a regular interval, the sound of my boots hitting the grate echoing for what seemed like minutes afterwords into the stale air.

I went to the end of the alleyway until I found a door that was to my right. I gently opened the door, my «STR» stat allowing me to open the heavy door with relative ease despite my small stature. After the door was a dimly light staircase constructed completely of rusted metal, a guard rail in place to make sure no one stumbled off the edge. My «Nocturnal Eyes» passive skill activated, allowing me to see that there was a «Camera Spike» attached to the wall and facing the entrance to the staircase. For someone to get their hands on tech like that was a little uncommon, but it might just be to let those that are waiting in the «Garage» know that there were more on the way. There was also the possibility that the Squadron that was hiring was just paranoid. It didn't change anything at the end of the day.

As I descended down the stairs, I realized that my footsteps sounded louder than they usually did. Actually, what I noticed was the fact that I was making sound at all. I maintained my current pace and focused on where the sound was coming from. Strangely enough, it was coming from in front of me, down the stairs about where the first landing was. I tried to focus, just barely finding the outline of the figure. It was too far to see in great detail, and I couldn't tell colors because of the way that the «Nocturnal Eyes» skill worked. I could only see in a scale of grey, though I could see just as well as I could in daylight.

I made sure that I was as quiet as I could be, like I was sneaking up on a target. It was an old habit, hiding from new people that I didn't know. Even during my jobs, I more often than not would hide from my employers, only appearing when I had to or was requested. Even now, I was planning on just checking in with the ranking officer and then doing just that. It was pretty easy to blend in with my surroundings.

Taking advantage of the darkness, and the fact that I was now out of the «Camera Spike»'s view range, I opened my «Character Menu» and went to the «Equipment and Weapons» tab. I selected a button and slide it down. All of my gear vanished in a display of dimly lit polygons colored a shade of pale blue and green. The chill of the stairwell wafted over my half-naked body, only pale blue and white striped underwear guarding me against it. Quickly, I clicked a button that was like a shortcut.

 _Do you wish to Equip these items?_

 _«Dragunov Sniper Rifle»_  
 _{2x} «Long-Barreled Walther P-22»_  
 _«Shadow Fighter Tactical Short Sword»_  
 _«Hold Out Fighting Knife»_  
 _«Ghost Assassin's Robes»_  
 _«Padded Stealth Leggings»_  
 _«Ranger's Supplementary Armor Upgrade»_  
 _«Augmented Armored Infiltrator's Boots»_  
 _«Elite Marksmen's Meta-Steel Gauntlets»_  
 _«Shock Trooper's Utility Belt (Customized)»_  
 _«Noise Prevention Stealth Suit»_  
 _{4x} «Fragmentation Explosives»_  
 _«Veteran Commander's Optical Defense Shield»_  
 _«Adventurer's Pack»_

I quickly clicked "yes", already looking through my inventory for a specific item.

As the legendary assassin robes appeared with my other pieces of armor, the white of the gear showing up nice and bright in the low light, I continued on with my search while making sure that the other player didn't notice me. I finally found the item, clicking on it twice to immediately equip it from my inventory. The «Wanderer's Cloak» appeared over my entire white ensemble with its boring and generic faded brown color. The coarse material was beaten countless times in the harsh weather of the «Wastelands». I wore this for two main reasons, the first being that the cloak guarded against the weather. It kept my gear from getting sand in it, its high collar and large hood keeping the grains out of my face and mouth. The other reason was to mask my identity at least slightly, as well as my gear, from view. This was a precautionary measure, since I could easily get attacked by the other raiding players who would be after my gear. If they didn't know I had it, then they wouldn't want to steal it.

I finished descending the stairs, coming up in a door that barely held the loud sounds of players gathering before the raid.

"Who are you and why were you following me," An ice cold voice came from behind me.

Instantly, on instincts that transcended the common knowledge that you couldn't get hurt in a safe-zone, I whipped around and drew one of the pistols and held it forward, "Who's asking?"

"I asked first, stalker," The voice, an eerily familiar sounding female, said, "I'll ask again in case you didn't hear: Who are you and why were you following me?"

"I'm not saying anything until I see who I'm talking to, we clear?" I said, trying to figure out why I'd felt like I'd heard this voice before.

The one that the voice belonged to stepped forwards, "Satisfied? It's not like you can even see me. Unless you have night vision or something."

I was speechless. Before me was the co-winner of the Third «Bullet of Bullets» and a sniper so skilled she was given the name «Hecate», after the legendary  
«PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II». She helped defeat the one known as «Death Gun», who was rumored to have been able to kill people in real life. Her strong gaze, as cold as liquid nitrogen, stared at me in the dark. They were beautiful eyes that complemented her avatar nicely, strong eyes. They were eyes that I admired. I wanted nothing more to find the strength that she had, to be able to face life or death situations like she did, and come out on top. I light of meeting someone that I looked up to as a role model ever since I laid eyes on them, I found that couldn't think straight.

"So-Sorry for not realizing it was you!" I said, unable to control myself in front of the one that I idolized since I first saw her in the Pre-lims of the Second «Bullet of Bullets»

She blinked looking confused at my sudden change in demeanor, "Uh..."

"I-I'm sorry...umm, oh! My name!" I exclaimed, unable to find words as I frantically looked anywhere but at her, "It's «White Ghost», but please call me «Shiro»!"

"Sinon..." She said, looking even more confused as she stared at me, "...Uh, are you okay?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm perfectly fine! Why wouldn't I be fine? I mean, I just met my idol. That's no big deal, right?" I said, starting to ramble, "Nope, no big deal at all. Why would it be?"

"Uh, Shiro, was it? You can calm down now," She said, looking almost worried. "I doubt I deserve that kind of treatment from anyone anyways."

"With all do respect, Miss Sinon, you couldn't be more wrong!" I said waving my hands around, "You made it to second place in the last «Bullet of Bullets»! And the only reason you didn't get first was because that guy cheated! Because there's no way that someone like you could lose unless the enemy was being unfair!"

"Seriously, calm down," Sinon said, shaking her head and giving me a small smile, "You're probably pretty amazing yourself. I mean, you were requested to show up to an «Invitation Only Raid» for the «Wasteland Marauders». They don't pick out just anyone, y'know."

"Ri-Right..." I said, inside jumping with joy at the fact Sinon of all people had complimented me, "...Uh, sorry about that."

"No need to worry, Shiro," Sinon said, "Let's go, or we'll be late."

Suddenly, Sinon grabbed my hand and pulled me along with her towards the door. She had longer legs than I did, so her stride was longer as a result, forcing me to practically scamper behind her as she dragged my small frame along. It was almost time, the sounds of the raiding members dying down as their leader stood atop a «Dune Drifter» with a small smile on his face. It wasn't a happy smile, like he was genuinely happy to see the lot of us standing before him and waiting for his orders. It was like a predatory grin, like he was looking at every one of us through the eyes of a fighter, hungry for action. He was excited for this fight, as far as I could tell, and it was making me slightly nervous.

It was one thing to be excited for action, in fact, if you didn't feel any sort of enjoyment from fighting then you wouldn't have gone anywhere near Gun Gale Online. It was the most difficult VRMMORPG to master, with its many different aspects and play styles dancing around each other in an attempt to best one another. The whole purpose of the game was to encourage PvP combat, the monster hunters of this game either having to become jacks of all trades or hire body guards so taht they weren't ambushed. It was a cruel game that forced you to think twice before trusting people.

That being said, those that looked around with the kind of expression that this man was using, those were the ones that looked at the game in a different light. One where fighting was all that mattered, and that this game was a place to display one's strength. That was the leader of the «Wasteland Marauders», the one that went by the name «Hellfire».

"Alright, it looks like the two we ordered are here, so let's get started!" Hellfire roared, his grin cracking even wider as the fire in his eyes burned brightly, "Our objective is the «Experimentation Preserve Laboratory» Its a recently discovered «Raiding Area» way out in the middle of no where, even by the «Wasteland»'s standard.

"That's why we're going to make the trek in these bad-boys!" The pink-haired Second-In-Command appeared again, leaning on the same Drifter as Hellfire, "We'll be splitting all of us up into teams, five to each vehicle."

"That's right!" Hellfire continued, "Drivers have already been assigned, and so have the teams. The two snipers we ordered from the «Bulletin Board» will be riding with us! If you have any questions, now's the time!"

I raised my hand, looking over with an assertive gaze from under my hood's cowling, "How's loot going to be decided?"

Hellfire grinned, "How do we handle anything, boys?"

The Squadron all shouted as one, some of them grinning like their leader, "Combat Pits! Combat Pits! COMBAT PITS!"

Hellfire laughed, "What that means, newbie, is that if you see something that you like that another player gets, you have to challenge them. That clear?"

"So if one of us gets the loot off a boss, we have to fight to keep it?" Sinon chimed in with her cold and collected voice.

"Correct, beautiful!" Hellfire laughed.

"I better be getting my pay out of this," I said, my voice having a hint of warning in it.

Hellfire laughed, hopping off of the hood and slowly walking over to Sinon and I, "What did you say? I couldn't quite hear you from down there, short-stuff."

A blatant baiting tactic, insulting a short person's height, but I saw through it and continued on in a low voice, "As long as I get my pay, we'll get along just fine. If not, we're going to have issues..."

"I can't wait to see what you'll do, midget," Hellfire grinned, his massive hand grabbing on the top of my hood and pulling it back, his eyes widening a bit in realization, "No way...you're...you're her!"

I sighed, pulling down the handkerchief that was on my head, allowing all my face to be seen, "Good to see you again, big boy. Been a couple hours, hasn't it."

"Wait, you're...Shiro, you're the «White Death»?" Sinon looked over me, amazed.

"I guess the cat's out of the bag now, huh?" I said with a rueful smile, shaking my head as I looked up at Hellfire with a look of death, "Touch me again, and we'll have a repeat of earlier, got it?"

Hellfire looked at me with an astonished look, then his fiery red eyes started to burn a hole in me and he growled in a low voice, "You're the reason I was humiliated in front of my comrades. What the _heck_ are you doing here?"

"There was a job," I said, shrugging as if it were obvious, "And where there's a job, there's credits. Doesn't matter who those credits come from as long as there's enough of them."

"Spoken like a true «Mercenary» player," Hellfire chuckled, his vicious look still remaining, "We'll be settling this later, «White Death»."

"Name's Shiro," I said, stealing a glance at Sinon, "«White Death» is a bit long."

"Whatever," Hellfire said, turning around to face his men, "Alright Marauders! Let's hit the dunes!"

The chorus that sang out was a mess of violent and excited screams, some of the players firing off their guns into the ceiling. They all scrambled to their respective «Dune Drifter»s, the engines of the machines revving to life as their pilots mounted the control seats. The desert colored vehicles were marred with damage, be it from the monsters in the «Wastelands» or other players' weapons. The gear that the players wore was uniformly like that of a gang of bandits that lived like nomads. With faded ensembles of sackcloth looking cloaks, torn and bandaged trousers, makeshift looking supplementary pieces, and other pieces of equipment adding to the image, this «Raiding Squadron» was dedicated to their namesake.

"I had no idea," Sinon said, tapping me on the shoulder was we headed for the same Drifter as Hellfire and his lieutenants, "I was wondering why you were wearing that thing."

"S-Sorry about that," i responded quickly, "I wasn't trying to hide it from you or anything..."

"No worries," She said, dismissing my apology quickly, "I take it you don't like being the center of attention?"

"Is it that obvious?" I said, cringing slightly as we reached.

"Just a little bit," Sinon chuckled, hopping up the side of the Drifter and holding out her hand to me, "C'mon, up you go."

"Thanks," I said, giving a small smile as I grabbed her open palm and was hoisted up to the back of the Drifter.

"You ladies comfortable back there?" The Pink haired Second-In-Command asked over his shoulder he started the engine, "Wouldn't want our beautiful side-chicks getting antsy on the way there!"

"Can it, Buzz-saw," Hellfire said, his massive and muscular chest barely fitting through the side entrance of the roll-cage, "Either one of those ladies'll kill you in an instant."

"Hey!" The man, «Buzz-saw», said defiantly, "I'm not that weak!"

"No, they are just too strong," The one with the strange goggles, the «Clairvoyant Arithmetician» interjected from the middle seat between Buzz-saw and Hellfire, "By my calculations, and the information I've gathered, the «White Death»'s stats are far exceeding our own. Her «DEX» stat alone exceeds you highest stat. «Hecate»'s «AGI» and «DEX» stats are slightly better than your «STR» and «VIT» stats, which would mean that she would be able to-"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Buzz saw grumbled, shooting the small and timid boy a glare, "Geez, man."

"I was just stating the facts," he retorted quietly, then started muttering at a volume that I couldn't hear him well at over the rumbling of the Drifter's engine.

"Well, state those stupid facts in your head next time, alright?!" Buzz-saw growled, then shook his head before looking at Hellfire, "Okay, we're good to go, boss."

"Then let's roll!" Hellfire yelled, jabbing a finger in the direction of the «Garage»'s exit.

As if that were the programmed voice password, the massive steel-slat door began to rise. Beyond that was a massive bomb-shelter door that split at it's middle and opened horizontally at a slightly faster rate, compared to the slatted door. What it revealed was a wide rectangular tunnel, lined with battered steel that was scattered with broken construction vehicles. The husks of old construction vehicles were pushed off to the side, behind the massive supports that jutted out of the sides of the corridor at regular intervals. In between those supports were thin lighting fixtures that bathed the scraped and battered metal in blue-ish white light. Down at the far end, just at the edge of the average players field of view, was the exit that lead out onto the sands of the «Wastelands». The sand wafted into the corridor, as the harsh amber light of the sun made the pale, yellowish-brown granules look almost a copper color. It was almost sunset in the world of Gun Gale Online, and the exit from the «Garage faced directly into the eerily beautiful star as it set on the barren desert.

We surged forwards as a squadron, the sound of the «Desert Drifters'» engines echoing down the corridor. The roar of the engines were as loud as a rocket launching, the shouts of the squadron members only making it worse. I sat down, Sinon still standing and holding onto the roll-cage with a smile on her face as the wind blew the tails of her muffler and her short hair.

I felt my forehead pulsate with the beat of my heart, the simulated headache of the game washing over me. I slowly put my hands over my ears and leaned forwards, trying to take deep breaths to keep the discomfort to a minimum until we were out of the tunnel. I wondered why the AmuSphere allowed such things like headaches resulting from loud noises. Really, it made the game even more immersive and realistic. At the same time, I wished there was a way to tone it down in the settings.

"Don't like loud noises, I see," Sinon said, sitting next to me.

I shook my head, "I prefer the quiet."

"That why you're a stealth sniper?" Sinon said, looking at me with a genuinely curious expression, "I mean, almost no one in the game has the patience to go that route."

"I make it fun with the «Acrobatic» grinding," I smirked, breathing a sigh of relief as we finally exited the tunnel, "Plus, it makes things easier in the long run."

"Really? Maybe you could show me sometime," Sinon said, though I couldn't tell if she was serious or not.

"I don't know...Even if you like it, I doubt you'll have the time to get it high enough for it to be useful," I said, "Unless you want to put in a solid three weeks of non-stop grinding in the sub-city."

"It took that long?" Sinon said, cocking an eyebrow, "You've got to be pulling me leg here. Right?"

"Well, you were thinking about using it for the next Bullet of Bullets, right?" I said, finding it hard to look away from my idol's beautiful features.

"How'd you know?" Sinon chuckled, "Is it that obvious?"

"I was just guessing..." I said, laughing nervously.

"You two know each other or something?" Hellfire laughed, rolling his eyes, "Acting pretty chummy back there."

I felt blood rush to my cheeks at the thought that it even looked like I was friendly with Sinon. The light blue-haired sniper looked over at the burly man, shaking her head.

"We just met, so what?" She said with a monotonous voice, "Got a problem with that?"

"None at all," Hellfire said, holding up his hands in surrender, "Just remember, that little girl there's as heartless as they come."

"I'll be the judge of that," Sinon said looking over to me again, "...But to make him say something like that...I wonder what happened."

I let out another nervous laugh, "...Yeah, me too."

* * *

I ended up messing with the things in my inventory, rather than look outside as we drove for at least fifteen minutes one way. I was just finding something to do so that I wouldn't lose what little cool I had while talking to Sinon. Strangely enough, I couldn't act like I usually did around her, unable to get over the fact that she was actually sitting next to me. She even called me cute, mentioning how shy I could be when she was asking questions about me. It just about passed out when she did that, almost unable to handle the joy that surged through my heart. I'd never had that happen to me in my entire life.

"Alright, ladies, we're here," Hellfire said, looking back at us through the corner of his eye, "I'd equip your weapons now, if I were you."

I lifted the brown cloth of my «Wanderer's Cloak» just enough to let him see one of my dual «Walther P-22»s, "Already done."

My «Dragunov» rifle was already equipped, along with my grenades and bladed melee weapons. The stock was fully collapsed, so it didn't jut out under my cloak. The bladed weapons were a seven inch knife and a short sword. I kept them well maintained, but I didn't really know how to use them besides the basic skills. I doubted I would find anyone in this game that would be able to teach me how to use them, but I knew enough close combat skills from my father to keep me alive if it came down to it. It was a last resort anyway. The knife was in a sheath wedged in between my leg and my knee-high armored boots, the hilt of the seven inch blade even with my knee cap. The short sword was in a sheath behind my back, the two foot long blade's hilt peaking out at my right hip. My grenades were at my belt and on the bandoleer of my «Ghost Assassin's Robes». The dark grey spheres stood out slightly from my mostly white attire.

"Fine by me," Sinon said, crossing her arms, "But I think I'll wait a little longer. My rifle's kind of a hand full to carry around."

"Do what you want, it was advise anyways," Hellfire said, then looked at me, "When are you going to lose the cloak anyways?"

"When we get into the raiding area," I responded absentmindedly, tugging at the article of clothing in question, "I just wanted to make sure my gear didn't get weathered for no reason."

A _hmph_ came from the «Wasteland Marauder» leader as we closed in on the destination.

There was a husk of a massive dome structure that had an entire section missing on its northern side. It looked as if a massive giant had taken a bite out of it like it would a cookie. Sands were slowly making their drawn out advance into the grounds inside the dome. The buildings that were inside the structure looked like a city would, the buildings looking like the structures that were scattered throughout the «Wastelands». They looked like those skeletons of skyscrapers, only they actually looked habitable. The glass that was used for their walls had yet to be blown out, still tinted black with the middle-stages of erosion creeping in around them. Gnarled metal from the edges of the structure that had been destroyed (from what, no one knew yet), seemed to claw at the air. They looked like jagged teeth, the hole in the dome like the gaping maw of some strange creature.

Other than the dome structure, there was also smoke and ventilation stacks that rose out of the canopy of the roof. In addition to that, there were also buildings that attached to the edge of the dome at irregular intervals, garage doors at their feet. Great spires rose out of the tops of those towers and buildings, reaching into the sky to touch the cruel setting sun's last rays. On the top of the dome along with the spires, large flying monsters known as «Skyclaws», which looked like a cruel cross between a vulture and a dragon. They were a passive mob, a scavenging type monster that would only attack those that attacked it. Most didn't pay them any mind, since they didn't drop too much loot and were hard to hit with bullets.

Noticing that the winds had died down, and that we were close enough for the effects of my cloak to be negligible, I unequipped the «Wanderer's Cloak» without a word. I could feel Sinon look at me discretely from the corner of her eyes at me.

Just as we all finally arrived at the destination, the sun was gone, replaced by the moon. In the moonlight, the white of my gear seemed to glow with an almost ethereal luminosity. My hair was glowing the same way, turning heads the second anyone glimpsed my form. Sinon stood beside me, holding her prized «Hecate» in her hands as she scanned the crowd of players.

She looked over at me with a confused look, "What is there something on your face?"

I flinched behind Sinon as everyone started to look at me, suddenly uncomfortable with their stares, laughing nervously, "...I don't think that's it, Sinon..."

"Alright, quit gawking!" Sinon suddenly yelled at the squadron, "Get moving!"

"The lady's right!" Hellfire followed, slightly angry with his shouting, "We're on a schedule here! Move forward! Vanguard, form up! Scouts, report into me! Everyone else, you know what to do!"

"Sir, yes sir!" They all shouted, pumping their fists into the air.

As the players began to follow orders, Sinon turned her head to look at me through the corner of her eye, "Its safe to come out now, Shiro."

Realizing that I was holding onto Sinon's jacket, i jumped back and frantically waved my hands, "S-Sorry!"

"No worries," Sinon said giving me a half-smirk, "Now I know you really don't like being the center of attention."

"Heh heh..." I chuckled, swallowing, "Yeah...Not really."

"C'mon," Sinon said, grabbing my arm again, "We're in the scout group for this one."

"Yeah, you're right," I said as I was dragged over to where Hellfire was briefing a small amount of players with submachine guns and pistols.

"We know next to nothing about this joint," Hellfire was saying, scanning the crowd, "So you're going to be mapping while your at this. We can make some serious credits if we can map out the place first and sell it off on the trade markets. Those of you that are newer to the game, let me tell you that playing hero before you have back up is a stupid way to waste our time and yours. If you don't think you can kill the target in a couple shots, or in a couple seconds, don't go attacking it alone. On that note, you'll be going in pairs. For obvious reasons, one team that's already set is our two guests over there. I wouldn't want my eyes and ears distracted by boobs and butts when they should be tracking mobs and mapping the area for my forces. We don't have to worry about fatality rates, since its a game, but I'd prefer not to lose anyone today. Means less carrying capacity and firepower for the rest of us. That being said, as long as you can stay alive until the big fights, I don't really care what happens after that. We clear?"

"Yes sir," The scout players said in unison, grabbing their gear and turning to leave.

Hellfire waited for a second, then looked at me, "Your radio set to the right frequency?"

"Yes," I responded, pulling out the single-side headset and slipping it over my left ear, "Good to go."

"Then go already," Hellfire said, "Show me that my credits aren't going to waste."

I felt a smirk tug at my lips, "Oh, now you've said it."

The man looked confused, but shrugged it off, "Whatever, just get in there already."

With that he went to our «Dust Drifter» to grab his weaponry.

"Alright, Sinon," I said, turning to the blue-haired sniper, "Time to show them what were made of!"

* * *

Shiro weaved through the gnarled and twisted metal structures, flowing through them like water. She'd run up walls, vault over obstacles that would take others a few minutes to climb, all while weighed down by her pack and gear. The majority of the time, Shiro would be scouting ahead for the scouts themselves, since she'd simply wait for them to catch up to her before she went too far ahead. Periodically, they'd hear the tell-tale crack of of her rifle, and the immediate death roar of some monster. Her steps were silent, and her aim was dead on. Sinon couldn't help but be impressed by the skills that she had built up. Had she not seen it before her eyes, she wouldn't have believed that a player could get so many skills up to supposedly max level.

"Almost to the entrance to the first level," She said, holding up a holographic map in a dimmed shade of blue, "My mapping skills aren't high enough to tell where it is, exactly."

"You were mapping it out the entire time?" One scout team asked over the radio, "How many kills are you at?"

"Ten," She responded, "You?"

"None, crazy," The scout sounded incredulous, "We couldn't ever take them out in one shot."

"A crying shame," Shiro said, just as Sinon finally caught up to her, "Oh, hey!"

"I heard that we're almost there?" Sinon said, looking around the area they were currently located.

There was a street below them, old cars and chunks of metal littering the grounds at the foot of large buildings as they slowly decayed. Two-tailed small animals creeped around the wreckages, their distorted maws slightly open to drink in the stale air as they looked from side to side. The larger monsters, the ones that Shiro had been picking off with her rifle, were hunchbacked bipedal beasts that looked as if a naked mole rat, gorilla, and a lizard were all thrown into one organism. They were designated  
«Mutated Rat Apes», and were a middle-level mob that could cause any player trouble if they weren't careful. These monsters weren't all that dangerous when squadrons came through, but their powerful bodies were actually the weaker of the monsters living in this dome.

There was the occasional, about once every fifteen «Mutated Rat Apes», was a massive demon of a monster that couldn't be defeated by a single gunman. They were ten meters tall, with four scythe-like arms edged in a glowing green substance that melted through armor. It had a pair of double-kneed legs that ended in massive talons capable of cleaving through a car with ease. Its fifteen-meter long tail was tipped in a bone-hard club that it used to essentially create earthquakes with one hit on the ground. Lining its back and the limbs was a diamond-hard exoskeleton that was completely bulletproof. There were five eyes, four small and beady red eyes surrounding a massive glowing eye in a square formation. On the massive creatures' dog-shaped skull boasted a set of frightening sharp teeth under those eyes, its muzzle extended at least a meter out from where its eyes were. The grotesque monster was one of the more powerful mobs of the raiding area, known as the «Colossal Carni-Scythe».

But Shiro had been able to fire into the massive creature's central eye, straight into its brain. Five shots were fired, all hitting their mark even as the monster thrashed around in agony. As she ejected a magazine from her semi-automatic sniper rifle she had looked completely and utterly void of emotion, almost as if she was bored. That was only about five minutes ago.

Sinon's initial impression of the player before her was that there was a misunderstanding. That it was merely coincidental that the «Wasteland Marauders» called her the «White Death», that they were simply mistaking her because of her equipment's color. The small amount of rumors that Sinon had heard about the «White Death» went back to the second week of the game. With the way that Shiro had acted around her, so innocent and honest, didn't fit with everything that was said about the legendary mercenary player. The amount of skill that the «White Death» was said to possess was something that had to come at a price, whether that was a major amount of money thrown into the game, or a lot of time. Or it was something emotional.

The last suggestion slipped Sinon's mind until now, but it would have been flat out denied if she'd thought of it before now. Shiro seemed too much like a child, both in stature and in personality. Now, however, it seemed like the most viable option. Even then, however, the amount of fluidity and skill that she displayed couldn't be attained unless she played the game far more than the average.

"I think its pretty close," Shiro said, dropping down to one knee and looking through her sniper's scope, "But that's just my instincts talking."

"What have your instincts been wrong?" Sinon asked, looking around as well.

"...Well...Not recently," Shiro said, uncertainty in her voice.

"Right," Sinon said, letting her lack of confidence in the girl's answer into her voice, "That's comforting."

"Well, even if they were wrong, I'm usually by myself," Shiro responded, sighing, "So I never had to worry about saving anyone's skin but my own. With all these people here...I wouldn't like to be the one that causes a lot of them to die. It'll affect my paycheck."

"You make it sound like you don't care if they lived or died," Sinon said, only half joking.

I looked at her, confused, "Well, of course I don't."

"Wait, wha-" Sinon started to say with a confused face.

The look in Shiro's eyes told Sinon everything she needed to know. The complete lack of sympathy, yet Sinon could tell that Shiro knew what she was getting at. She even looked confused, like the question Sinon had asked was strange. That complete disregard for others wasn't something that came so easily to people. Even Sinon had to get used it the feel of taking another's life, even if it was virtual. Most players thought of this place as another world to escape from the boring reality that they all had. Most were in the grime-infested world of Gun Gale Online for the purpose of ignoring reality, at least for the time that they were logged in. They tended to still hold onto some rationales, like not randomly running in on suicide runs or staying to fight to the death when they could simply log out to escape. There were few, Sinon included, that didn't see it that way.

Those few looked at the game as a way to prove something. Some of them used it to work something out on the battlefield that they couldn't do in the real world. At the end of the day, however, they were still people. Even the «Pro» players, the ones that played the game to make a living, were still people at the end of the day. They still saw and reacted to things like a normal person would, at least when they were seriously considering the question.

Shiro, however, didn't seem that way. In the moment that Sinon had realized it, she had seen a glimpse of that hollow void somewhere in her heart. Where there should have been a sort of human understanding was blank, like it had been written over or erased. Sinon found herself all the more interested in the small white-haired girl, slowly finding herself wanting to unravel the mystery of the shy assassin sniper.

Sinon was about to raise the subject, but was interrupted by a monstrous roar.

The reverberating sound waves crashed into their ear-drums, Shiro covering her ears with her small hands. Her rifle clattered to the ground as she groaned in pain. Sinon wasn't fairing much better, but she was still able to move around. The sound had come from a creature even higher ranked than the «Carni-Scythe», its mouth lined with fangs like needles. It was a simple, at least by mutant standards, dragon looking monster that stood twenty meters high on two legs. It looked exactly like a dragon would from a fantasy game like «Alfheim Online», with its dark and scaly skin and long whip-like tail. However, one arm was grossly larder than the other. The remaining "normal" arm was boasting a massive «Plasma Cannon» at its end, wires running from the weapon into the monster's skin. The larger arm was massive and muscular, the four digits of its hand tipped in razor sharp claws. It had beady red eyes, though one was replaced with a light-blue glowing cybernetic augment. The chest of the monster was plated in armor, protecting what its steel skin didn't. There was a pale blue, glowing metal disk at the center of its chest. From under the metal, there were parts that glowed with a faint blue light. It was the first monster added to the game that had more than one health bar. The enormous demon like beast was walking towards exactly where Sinon was afraid of it heading: The advancing «Wasteland Marauders».

"Hellfire, you have the «Cyber-Demon» heading your way," Shiro's voice suddenly caught Sinon's attention, how evenly she spoke completely contrasting the urgency of the situation, "I can't get a clean shot at its weak-points from here. Advise."

"The «Cyber-Demon»?!" Hellfire responded, "Crap, I didn't bring the rocket-launchers with me...How soon until you can get into position."

The white haired girl looked off into the distance, taking a quick scan of the terrain, "Five minutes, tops."

"Fine with me," Hellfire said, then added, "Tell ya what, you get here in three, the loot's all yours."

"Now your talking," Shiro responded, a small smile creeping on her features as she looked at Sinon, "Sorry, Sinon...Looks like I'll have to pull ahead."

"Hey, I wouldn't want to give up that chance either," Sinon shrugged.

"I don't want to go anywhere without you if I can help it..." Shiro said, her cheeks blushing as she pointed to a tower that was notably taller than the rest, "I'll be at that tower. Make it there as fast as you can."

"Roger that," Sinon said, nodding, "See you there."

Shiro smiled, "Thank you..."

The rest of her sentence was muttered under her breath, the amount of gratitude that she was displaying as she spoke didn't seem to fit the situation. Sinon couldn't help but feel she had been thanked for something that was more important to Shiro than meeting up after she was finished. Was was making Sinon confused was the haunted look that Shiro had in her eyes for a split second.

Before Sinon could even think about what she was going to do next, Shiro vanished. It wasn't like she used a teleportation spell or some tech that could do such a thing. Those sort of items didn't exist in this game of guns. No, Shiro was simply fast enough to practically vanished. Had Sinon blinked when Shiro had started to move, she would have only seen the after image of her bright white clothing.

Sinon watched as Shiro vaulted, wall-climbed, rolled, and ran through the ruins between her and her destination, making it look easy. The material that hung from her waist, along with the weapons that covered her body, made her seem like a modern ninja. «Assassin sniper» wasn't an official class, since there really wasn't a class system in GGO. However, it was the name that was given to those that used a specific set of skills and weapons. They had god-like «AGI» and «DEX», commanding the skills like  
«Nocturnal Eyes», «Hawk Eyes», «Stealth» and the «Acrobatic» skill. The weapons that they used were snipers due to the fact that the weapon's first bullet didn't have a  
«Bullet Line».

The amount of time that a player had to put into the game to have those skills was almost impractical, unless they were «Pro» players or ones that were far too into the game for it to be healthy. The game hadn't been out long enough for it to be practical. Shiro, however, was the exception. She not only had the skills that «Assassin Snipers» were known to possess, but also had the rare skill «Akimbo», which allowed the player to dual wield pistols with not accuracy penalty. Not to mention that all of those skills were seemingly maxed out.

Sinon watched the strange petite girl flow through the rubble of the dome city, trying to unravel the mystery that was growing around her by the minute. Then, as she started her decent down to the ground level, she realized something. Shiro's «VIT» stats were that of a low level beginning player, the bar that was in the top left of her vision almost a fourth as much as Sinon's. If Shiro were to get hit by almost anything in the game that was above the starting mobs, she would be in great danger of being killed. What was really worrying, and rather impressive, was that Shiro had accepted a mission that would lead to a location where anything in the area would be able to kill her in one attack. Some merely had to breath on her to do damage. Sinon shook her head, unable to wrap her head around who Shiro was and what went through her head.

Before Sinon could get down to the ground level, she heard Shiro's calm voice, "In position. Weapons free?"

"Just take it out, idiot!" Hellfire yelled into the radio angrily, "It's almost on top of us!"

"Roger," Shiro said in monotone.

Sinon looked over to where the «Cyber-Demon» was slowly making its way to the massive group of gunmen. She could see with her skill of «Hawk Eyes» that they were firing everything they had at the monster, but their bullets were merely deflecting off of its skin and metal armor. Most the the squadron members that were frantically putting up a wall of gunfire were shooting submachine guns and assault rifles, which were doing minimal damage. The bullets were ding damage, it would be far too over powered of a monster if the frightening about of fire they were putting out didn't do a thing. However, it barely made a dent in the two health bars that the «Cyber-Demon» owned.

Suddenly, the tell-tale _crack_ of Shiro's rifle could be heard over the noise. The monster roared in pain, a quarter of one of it's bars vanishing as it rocked back. Its cybernetic eye was not there anymore, blue colored blood oozing out of its socket. That «bleeding damage» was slowly chipping away at the beast's health, but was about as much good as the volley of fire that the squadron was putting out. Sinon couldn't help but think that if Shiro had a bigger sniper rifle, like her «PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II», its likely that the first bar might have been erased from the game in one shot.

Another shot rang out, and another quarter of its health came off. Two more shots later, and the first bar of its health was gone.

The monster roared without restraint, the sound breaking nearby windows that were still intact. The squadron could sense that the «Cyber-Demon» was preparing for a comeback strike, the pale blue disk that was at the center of its chest turning to red. The disk glowed, pulsating like a heart. The massive cannon that was attached to its right arm swung around, aimed in the general direction of the massive amount of players that refused to let up on the shower of bullets. At the sight of a massive charge coalescing at the muzzle of the weapon, the squadron members took cover and scattered like ants.

Sinon watched with a disbelieving expression as the monster fired its cannon, melting away the car wreckage and concrete that was in its path. The foundation of some of the towers was destroyed enough to cause them to collapse. The squadron lost about three players from that attack, despite the fact that they were in perfect cover. Another twenty were in the red, ripping out «Med-Packs» to heal themselves enough to last for a «Medic» player to help them regain the remainder of their health. Had this been a boss fight in «ALO», Sinon's friend Asuna would have immediately started casting healing magic on the party members, allowing them to charge back into the fray with only a small moment's wait. However, «Gun Gale Online» was vastly different.

In order to heal, players had to use «Med-Packs». These items could only be used once every ten minutes. On top of that, the item could only heal a certain amount of health, not the entire health bar. This made getting hit in the game without the help of a «Medic» player difficult. That being said, the leader of the «Wasteland Marauders» was no idiot, and had recruited a good amount of «Medics» into his ranks. From what Sinon could tell, those «Medics» were hard at work, doing their best to revive the health of the remaining players of the squadron.

"Sinon," Shiro's voice came over the radio, barely audible, "I could use some help..."

"Shiro?" Sinon said, her pace quickening slightly, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...I'm f-fine," Shiro said, then laughed ruefully, "I thought that something this big would be an  
«Immortal Object»...turns out I was wrong..."

"Seriously, are you okay?" Sinon asked, her voice cold, "Don't lie to me."

"Heh, you sound like my mom..." Shiro said weakly, "I'm still alive, so all I need's a «Med-Pack». I'd rather not chill under a giant chunk of rubble if I can help it though...so hurry? Its cold in here..."

Her last words had something to them that made Shiro's voice sound almost eerie and hollow, causing Sinon to run as fast as she could towards the massive pile of rubble that now blocked the roadway. The «Cyber-Demon» continued on, seeming to think that its job was done and felt the need to return to its home to lick its wounds. Sinon felt relieved, taking the direct route to the player that was known to many as the «White Death».

She ducked under unstable-looked gaps in the debris, weaving through twisted shards of metal and rough chunks of concrete. There was a haze about the air, the recently toppled structure having launched the dust that had settled within it into the air along with the parts of it that had been atomized by the collapse. Small creatures, some with odd numbers of legs or two tails instead of one, scampered out of small crevasses in the ruins of the building, Sinon's presence causing them to flee. The blue haired sniper looked in every nook an cranny of the rubble, trying to find the smallest hint of the player's white clothing.

Sinon stopped at the edge of a small clearing within the rubble, which looked like it was about to collapse at any time, cupping her hands around her mouth as she shouted, "Shiro! Shiro! You there!?"

Almost immediately, a strong hand wrapped itself onto her ankle with a vise grip. Sinon reacted on instinct, ripping her «Glock 18C» out of its rear holster and training it on the offending hand. However her eyes widened slightly in realization. What was grabbing her ankle was a small human hand, which was encased in a half-fingered gauntlet. The metal armor of the gauntlet was a light grey, having two segmented pieces at where it ended at the elbow. The under side of the gauntlet, which was showing more to Sinon, was a plain black with a section that looked like an extremely thin accordion colored a slight grey that started before the wrist and ended before the elbow. There was no other piece of equipment in the game, a rare raiding area drop that was owned by someone Sinon had barely just met.

"Shiro?" Sinon said, disbelieving, "How did you...?"

"You just happened to be in front of me," Shiro said quietly, stopping to cough, "...Could I bother you for a «Med-Pack»? I think I'm taking «bleeding» damage..."

Sinon blinked, then chuckled, "It's your fault for not putting at least _some_ points into your «VIT» stats."

Shiro managed a small smirk as Sinon pulled her out of the rubble, "What I do with my points...is my business."

"Whatever you say, Miss «White Death»," Sinon said rolling her eyes as she grabbed her last «Med-Pack» from her inventory and started to apply it to the petite white haired player.

"Not you too," Shiro sighed, her health returning to full with just one «Med-Pack».

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your «VIT» stat anyway?" Sinon asked, one eyebrow slightly higher than the other.

Shiro sighed again, flicking open her interface. She navigated the black-themed menu until she came upon her player card, pushing it towards Sinon with her hand. The small player card moved towards Sinon, flipping around to face the blue haired sniper. Sinon blinked in surprise. The graph that showed her distribution in points was extremely lob-sided, the stats of «AGI», «SEN» and «DEX» were maxed out. Her «STR» was just enough to wield the largest sniper in the game, with her «VIT» and «LUK» stats completely ignored. There was only enough points in either of them for their minimum stat bonus, nothing more. It was likely that she only increased her «VIT» and «LUK» stats until she got her hands on a «Sniper Rifle», then neglected to increase either of them. It was a miracle that she hadn't lost all of her health in the collapse of the building.

Sinon played with the interface, coming on the «General Information» tab of the player card. The gear that she had equipped were all rare items, each a high level raiding

"Why did you-?" Sinon looking back at the chart of the girl's stats, the white haired girl before her dusting herself off.

"What? Is there something wrong with the window?" Shiro asked, cocking her head to the side like a confused puppy.

"No..." Sinon said, then sighed, "You don't get hit that much do you?"

"Take damage, you mean?" Shiro clarified, "Well, no. Most of the time I'm either too far back, or the ones I'm shooting don't know I'm there."

"I see..." Sinon said, thinking back to her fight with the «Mini-gun»-wielding «Behemoth», "...Don't you think that you should invest in more of your «VIT» so you won't have to constantly hide?"

"..." Shiro mumbled something that Sinon couldn't hear.

The atmosphere around the white-haired girl seemed to thicken, like a dark cloud had formed over her. She lowered her head, her loose bangs hiding her eyes in shadow, clenching her hands hard enough to make the material of her gauntlets groan from the strain. Sinon felt her body back up instinctively to give the girl some space, her hand tightening around the grip of the automatic pistol in her hand. The two grips of the «White Death's» dual «Long-Barreled Walther P-22s» seemed to glint in the limited light despite their mat-black coating. Sinon swallowed and was about to speak, but Shiro beat her to the punch.

"We should get going," Shiro said, looking up to reveal a strained smile on her face, "If we're any more late, it'll probably affect our paychecks."

* * *

Sinon didn't seem to buy my excuse, seeing right through my expression. She seemed sort of anxious, looking at me like I was some insane puzzle. Her ice-cold eyes, colored with a beautiful mix of a bright green and pale blue, scanned my frame and stopped on the grips of my pistols.

 _Was she nervous that I was going to kill her or something?_ I thought to myself, sighing. _Great, I made my idol think that I was a psychopath..._

I tried my best to maintain a calm exterior, trying to ignore the wording that Sinon had used in her last question. Something about what she was insinuating, whether it was intentional or not, made my blood boil. It had nothing to do with Sinon, since I could never hate her for anything. It had more to do with how I felt about the words. How the reminded me of my own weakness. How I had come to this game to destroy that very weakness. The way that Sinon had phrased those words made it feel as though she was saying that I wasn't working to achieve that goal. She basically asked me why I was running away.

 _...I'm not hiding...I'm doing my best to do anything but that, I swear!_ I thought to myself as we exited the massive pile of rubble, Sinon's eyes burning a hole in my back.

"W...re...Are you two!?" Suddenly, our headsets screeched to life with the booming voice belonging to Hellfire.

Sinon sighed, "We couldn't here you. Where are you?"

"Fighting the stupid «Cyber-Demon»!" Hellfire responded angrily, "Now get your butts down here, or you don't get a paycheck!"

"Crap," I blurted, thankful that my headset wasn't active, picking up my pace, "C'mon, Sinon!"

"Right," Sinon said, keeping up with me as she continued to study me.

We weaved through the fastest possible way to the squadron's location, the roars of the «Cyber-Demon» leading us straight to the fray. I made a conscious effort to keep my acrobatic movements to a minimum so I wouldn't leave Sinon behind. The street that had suffered the brunt of the «Cyber-Demon's» looked like the surface of an active volcano, pieces of metal and the ground were glowing a slight orange like embers. Anything that was completely destroyed was nothing more than red polygons, fading into invisible code. The landscape itself had changed, something that was new to the game. The usual rule of the «Immortal Object» was not present in this new «Raiding Area».

«Zaskar» was testing some new software in this area specifically, one that allowed for a new feature called «Terrain Alternation». This new feature would allow for large scale monster, and player, attacks to be able to drastically change as a result of the damage. Had the «Cyber-Demon» fought the «Wasteland Marauders» in any other area, the massive beam attack that it had used on the squadron would have only destroyed smaller walls and the wreckage of the numerous cars that would have been in the way. Other than than, there wouldn't be any other sign that anything happened. Due to that new system, the building that I had been in had collapsed and almost was the end of me. And consequently made me bother Sinon to save me from dying a stupid death.

We raced for the fight between one of the best squadrons of the game and the newest monster of Gun Gale Online, our rifles tucked into our arms as we ran. I scanned the area as we went, taking in the desolated area as fast as I could. In order for the «Mapping» skill to activate in this game, the player had to open the map and visualize what the area around them looked like so that it was transcribed onto the map. The easiest way was to keep the map open and look around the immediate area until the map was finished registering. The work-around of this system was memorizing what an area looked like, including where it was relative to the surrounding area. The draw back was that not many people had the ability to remember enough of the area in order to do that, unless they were to open their map almost immediately after memorizing the area. I knew that as soon as Sinon and I reached the fight, somehow that map data that I was memorizing was going to be useful. Mapping the area always revealed things that were hidden to the naked eye, like hidden passageways and ducts, avenues that were encased in rubble and void of monsters.

I saw the «Cyber-Demon» raise its massive dinosaur-like head into the air, tracers ricocheting off its skull. The cybernetic eye that I had taken out with my rifle was closed shut, preventing it from being exploited as a weak point. The squadron was firing wildly, seeming to forget that defeating a massive boss-level monster like that was going to take more that sheer volume of fire to be defeated. Unless they were to bring in their rocket-launchers somehow, there wasn't much they could do. The sounds of sniper-rifles mingled with the staccato bullets of the sub-machine guns and assault rifles, the larger caliber bullets bouncing harmlessly off the armored skin of the «Cyber-Demon». The remaining health bar on the monster was slowly being chipped away at, though it was about a ten-percent decrease from the last time I had seen it.

"We're almost there," I said, looking back briefly at the blue-haired sniper, "And I have a plan. I need your help."

Sinon blinked, " _You_ need _my_ help?"

I cocked an eyebrow at the strange response, but continued as if I never heard it, "We're going to have to hit that thing's weak spot as fast as we can. If we can hit it together, twice in a row, that should knock it out."

"I see..." Sinon said, nodding, "Alright, sounds good."

I nodded, stopping suddenly as I opened up my menu and went to the «Maps» tab. Sinon skidded to a halt, almost running my small frame over. She was about to ask why I'd stopped, but once she saw the mapping data appear on my interface, she closed her mouth. The area we had just ran through cleared, revealing a tunnel system that ran under the roadways. I looked around the area we were in, focusing my sights on the highest building in the vicinity. The building was soon added to the map, details about the structure in slightly brighter text than the pale, almost transparent gray-scaled map interface.

"Alright, I say we head to there," Sinon said, pointing to the building systematically, "You can take the top floor, I'll take the floor below that. Sound good?"

"Why not the roof?" I said, looking over that Sinon, "I can take the roof and you can take the top floor."

"It says that there is no way to access the roof from inside." Sinon said, meeting my gaze, her expression changing into one of realization, "...But that's not an issue, is it?"

I shook my head, "Nope. Ready?"

Sinon nodded, "After you."

* * *

A tall, slender man stood at the threshold of a white door, an accented number "23" screwed into the metal door at the same level as his chin.

His eyes were obscured from view by sunglasses, despite the fact that the man was inside. A fedora sat atop his head, forcing down his spiky black hair, the longest of which reaching down to the collar of his dark grey shirt. He wore a black suit jacket, equally black slacks, matching dress shoes, and a bright blue-green tie. Dark leather gloves covered his slender hands. There was a deep scar that ran from his right ear to the right corner of his mouth, running just under his cheekbone. He carried with him a briefcase, holding it loosely in his left hand as the right reached for the door to the room.

 _"I've come for you...Little Mashiro..."_ The man said under his breath, an eerie excitement coming through in his tone as his free hand curled around the handle.

"Sir?" A nurse suddenly said, stopping the man in his tracks, "I'm sorry, our visiting hours ended just a few moments ago. Please, could you come again when we are available next?"

"...Hmm...And when would that be?" The man said, drawing his free hand from the door handle to his chin in a pondering pose.

"Unfortunately, there will be a guest speaker coming tomorrow, so we will be closed for the entire day," The nurse said with a genuine apologetic tone, "We will be open for visitation the following day at eight in the morning."

"And if I wanted to come sooner?" The man said, turning fully towards the nurse with an intimidating stance, "I have very important business with the one in that room, you see. It simply cannot wait for even a day."

"I'm sorry, sir, but there is nothing that I can do," The nurse said, shaking her head, "If you want, you can talk to the one in charge of this wing to see if you can work around the schedule tomorrow."

"It can't be helped then," The man said, sighing, as he started towards the nurse, "Would you mind showing me where this person is?"

"Certainly," The nurse said, turning and heading down the hallway with the man in tow, "Right this way, sir."

"Thank you very much," The man said, following silently behind the woman.

The halls of the mental hospital were like any other generic hospital, with plain tile flooring and paneled ceilings that only accented the bland and tasteless color scheme of the building. There were some hospital beds that were sitting on the side of the hallways, with bags of hydration fluids hanging from stands and a set of hospital gowns folded neatly onto their cheap covers. There were also wheelchairs, some that even had been modified so that the one in the seat would not be able to move the chair without another person to push them. The fluorescent bulbs that were protected by semi-opaque glass lit up the corridor in an unforgiving white light that made the colorless hallway all the more monotone and bland. Only when the two of them left the wing that they'd met each other in, the wing that housed the more dangerous patients that required more monitoring that the rest.

As they neared the front desk of the hospital, the receptionist took the man to the office of the person whom was in charge of the hospital, a man that was known by the name of Tekashi Kawashima.

"So?" Kawashima said as he looked over the top of his computer screen, "What do you want?"

"I'd like to see if there is any way that I can visit my...family friend tomorrow in spite of this guest speaker that you are having over tomorrow?" The man said, calmly looking down into the older man's eyes.

The doctor sighed, his eyes shifting to a small, though intricate, pin on the collar of the man, looking away suddenly as he started to shuffle through is desk, "So what does the local yakuza want with one of my patients?"

"Cutting right to the chase are we?" The man in the black suit said, scoffing. "I'm good with that. My associates want two favors from you and your staff."

"And those would be?" The older man said, "We've already been lowering our standard of treatment for her for the purposes of forcing her to stay here. What more do you need?"

"There will be a rather noticeable increase in your institutions funds this month from the Shima family, should you comply with our requests. If not...well, you remember what happened last time you thought we were treating that girl too harshly, right?"

"As much as I'd rather forget it, its going to haunt me forever," Kawashima sighed, looking away from the yakuza watchdog before him, "Fine then, what are your 'requests'?"

"We will be taking her off of your hands during the assembly tomorrow, and taking the girl away in order to give her some more...realistic education," The man said, an eerie smile stretching across his lips, "Second, I want you to tell your staff that Mashiro Shima will not exist for the next twenty-four hours."

"'Will not exist'?" The older man echoed, confused at first before realization washed over his features, "Ah. Right, I'll have my patients and employees will be told that the girl is to be completely ignored."

"I'm glad that we came to an understanding," The man said, the yakuza pin glinting off of the desk's lamp light, "Well then, it was good doing business with you, Takeshi Kawashima."

"Of course, good night," the older man said, the sinister man in front of him leaving silently.

 _Tomorrow, little Mashiro,_ Thought the man as he closed the door to Kawashima's office, _tomorrow's the start of a brand new...delightful adventure for use both..._


	3. III: Expansion

I took a deep breath, feeling the world slow around me as my finger gently rested on the trigger. The bullet circle expanded and contracted predictably, slowly zeroing in on the massive disk that was embedded into the chest of the «Cyber-Demon».

The pale blue of the disk had given to a fierce red, glowing angrily as bullets bounced off of it. The projectiles had done enough damage to make Sinon and I's part much easier than it originally was, the amount of health that remained was easily deplete-able with Sinon's massive anti-material rifle.

"Ready," I said over the radio.

"You have the shot?" Hellfire asked, his voice slightly hitched from heavy breathing.

"Almost," Sinon said, "We need him to face the west slightly for the best chance."

"Just shoot already!" Buzz-saw said angrily, "Half of us are already dead!"

"What he said," The «Clairvoyant Arithmetician» followed, much calmer than the second-in-command, "If this continues, we won't have enough forces to stand much of a chance in the final boss."

"We don't-" Sinon started to say, but was interrupted by the sound of my rifle firing.

The bullet slammed into the disk at the center of the monster, the glass cracking as some red polygons flew out from the «Cyber-Demon's» chest. I could hear Sinon's small gasp, her microphone barely picking it up over the monster's roar of agony.

The health bar that remained from the «Wasteland Marauders'» onslaught of bullets suddenly dropped to almost twenty-five percent. Sinon, realizing her chance almost immediately, fired off her shot soon thereafter.

The sheer might from the sniper rifle's concussive shock wave as the bullet left the barrel could be felt through the building under me. I could literally fell the pressure wave from a rifle that had three feet of solid metal between myself and it. The deadened, implosive sounding gunshot was frightening, singing a song to lay the doomed to sleep. It was easy to tell that this sound was the last thing many players heard before their health bars went down to nothing.

The massive round slammed into the exact same place as my previous shot, with the deadly accuracy that came with being one of the top snipers in the entire game.

I didn't miss my chance, firing my own rifle without hesitation into the desolated disk at the center of the massive monster's chest. The bullet stayed true, following the exact path that its predecessor had taken, despite the fact that I hadn't taken the time to properly aim the shot. As the round entered the monster's weak point, the disk shattered just slightly more than it already was.

From the edges of the disk, cracks and fissures started to form on the monster's chest. Growing in half-second spurts, the beast was soon covered in them, light escaping from the wider of the openings on its massive form. Only then did it shatter into thousands upon thousands of red polygons.

There was a slight moment of silence before the raiding group started to cheer in victory. The remaining bullets held in their magazines were fired into the dome's ceiling as celebratory gunfire washed over my senses.

I took the chance to exhale deeply, placing a hand over my microphone so the sound wasn't carried over the airwaves. I looked around the top floor of the building, trying to find a way down that didn't exist. If it wasn't for my «Acrobatic Skill», I doubted I would have even thought of trying to get to this position in the first place.

"Alright then," Buzz-saw said over the radio, "That took long enough to do. Let's see how far we can get before we all have to log off, yeah?"

"Really, we should just call it here and send a party back out to grab the raiding gear. If that was just the beginning for this place, then I don't want us to be caught with our pants down again." The Arithmetician said, just walking into my view as he started to fidget with his PDA again.

"Four-Eyes is right," Hellfire said, sighing, "Really, I think our snipers could have been a bit more of help."

The jab was a complete miss, as I couldn't care less for what he thought of my timing. Sinon, on the other hand, seemed to pay a bit more attention to the words of the raid squadron leader.

"Well _excuse_ us," She said, her voice ice cold and monotonous, "Next time I see a massive boss kicking everyone's butt, I'll just bring out the popcorn and a chair."

"Sounds like someone is looking for a deduction in pay," Hellfire growled over the radio, starting for the center of the road.

"Do that, and you'll be my next target," I suddenly chimed in over the radio, silence following my words.

"So the «White Death» is still alive after all," Hellfire said, sounding unfazed by my comment, "Could it be that she shares the opinion of the Ice Queen over here?"

"Can we save this until _after_ we're finished with this raid," The one walking with his head in his PDA said, sounding annoyed, "Its dead, and we only lost five. I'd say that's good enough to keep all of your mouths shut."

I rolled my eyes, starting my descent to the ground floor, "Fine."

As I slung my rifle across my back, the butt of which looming more my small shoulder, I vaulted over the side of the structure and started to make my way down. Just before I did, I made sure to secure my side arms and my pack, since there as the possibility of them falling away from me as I went down.

"We're meeting at where the monster was killed, so all scout rendezvous with us there," The small boy with glasses said, "Also for the record, who got the «LTB»?"

The «Last Attack Bonus». A game element that was a staple for every VRMMORPG based off of the «Seed». Something that quite a few players had gotten good at snatching at the last possible moment. There were even those that made it a point to steal every LTB that they could. Much to the irritation of those around them.

"Me," I said plainly, just as I climbed down to the floor that Sinon was on just a moment ago.

"I see," The boy said, "Very well then. Rules are that those not within the squadron that receive the LTB may keep it."

"I know," I responded tersely, finding a flight of stairs that lead directly down to the ground.

"Have you looked at it yet?" Sinon asked.

"I will later."

I looked out the window to the point where their strategist had told us to meet. Sinon was already there, crossing her arms as she looked around the crowd. I took another deep breath and let it out. I scanned the area to make sure that there wasn't any traps for the second time, the first when I had ascended these same steps.

The game developers had been bragging about this newest expansion and its many hidden features. The patch notes were as vague as they always had been, the developers liking to let the players figure it all out for themselves. Most of the player-base of our server didn't know how to read English anyways. That being said, being cautious and weary of anything that would suddenly one-shot was completely warranted in my book.

The ruined building had office desks and chairs strewn about the stained and torn floors, whatever was able to corrode or fade already having done so. Wires from the ceiling dangled like vines, panels having been destroyed or shaken from the roof and scattered among the furniture. There were parts of the floor itself that were no more, cracks that were just wide enough for an average man to fit into scarring the surface. The windows that were supposed to line the outer edges of the floor were half-missing, the shards of glass joining the rest of the garbage and rubble on the floor's ruined carpet. It was like this on every one of these floors as I descended the stairs.

Before I knew it, I was out of the building and into the streets of the city, which admittingly looked only slightly less desolated than the interior of the structure I'd just left. The squadron was gathering as requested, looking around and chatting it up as they had when they were waiting in the «Garage». The group of them looked like a band of bandits gearing up to raid a caravan, the majority of them wearing gear that had spikes or other grotesque ornamentation. Sinon, myself, and two other hired guns stood out from this group, finding ourselves standing outside the cluster of them has we fiddled with our weapons. The other two were male, one with ebony black and red accented hair, and the other with a black, dark grey-highlighted color. They seemed comfortable around each other, like they'd worked together before. I, meanwhile, was making sure to keep my distance from Sinon so as not to invade her personal space.

"Alright, let's get going," Hellfire said, then looked over at the two male hired guns that were beside us, "Some of our more useful outside help found the entrance to the dungeon section of this dump. Sooner we finish, the sooner we can get to bed. I don't want to hear your complainin' any more than I have to, ya hear!?"

"Yes sir!" Some of the squadron members said, raising their fists at the thought of sleep after such a hard fought battle.

"They never change," I said with a sigh, turning away from the rabble just as the new map data was sent to my inbox. Accepting it and watching the remainder of the screen light up, I searched for where the entrance to the dungeon was. The massive depression that was indicated by the topographical filter in the interface, I saw that the "entrance" was really just a sink hole that lead to the lower levels of the city. I sighed, starting towards the nearest building.

"Where are you going?" Sinon said, grabbing my wrist to stop me, "They're all heading the other way."

"That's the long way around," I said, turning to face the blue haired sniper, unable to look her in the eyes with a straight expression, "It's faster if I cut across the rooftops. I can take out the stronger mobs before they even get there. Makes things easier."

"Are you always just heading out on your own like that?" Sinon asked.

"I guess," I said, looking at her momentarily, "Why did you ask?"

"I...I was curious?" Sinon said, her expression telling me that she didn't even really know herself.

I scoffed, shaking my head, "Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't really need anyone here to beat this place. I can handle everything just fine on my own...I have to..."

Sinon looked at me with a confused expression, as my voice trailed off, "What was that last bit?"

"Don't worry about it," I said, turning to leave, "I suggest heading back to the group. Hanging with them will keep you safe at least until you can find a good vantage point during the fights."

"But what about you?" Sinon said, her hand releasing my wrist as I started for the buildings again.

"I'll be fine," I said, turning slightly towards her so I wouldn't look at her through the corner of my eye...

"...I'm always alone anyways..."

* * *

Sinon watched was the pale girl walked away from her, the glint off the barrel of her sniper rifle catching her in the eye momentarily.

The weapon that the small girl wielded was one of the common sniper rifles of the game, which could be earned for doing a small series of quests during the first few hours of the game. Bar the upgrades that came with the stats from the skill points earned as the player leveled, the amount of damage that the girl was supposed to be able to deal wasn't supposed to be as significant as what Sinon had just seen. The monsters from before the massive duel with the «Cyber-Demon» were usually one shot kills for any sniper that knew where to aim their weapon. The elite and stronger monsters that she took out in two to three hits were also explainable since Shiro obviously knew where to place her rounds.

The amount of damage she was able to do without a stronger weapon wasn't anywhere near what Sinon had originally thought. As Sinon reluctantly turned towards the group, the sounds of their footfalls telling her that they were on the move, she couldn't help but think that there was something going on with that girl. The ways her mood would swing from seemingly happy to cold and calculating was slightly unsettling, but not something that was causing Sinon a bad feeling about the white-haired girl.

What was worrying her was the look on her face when she was talking to Sinon earlier.

 _"You make it sound like you don't care if they lived or died."_

 _"Well, of course I don't."_

When the small girl had responded, her ice blue irises were vacant of human emotion. In that momentary deadened look, Sinon could tell that it wasn't just a disconnect from the value of human life in the real world and Gun Gale Online, but a lack of care for human life in general. Not even the hardcore players had that sort of look in their eyes as they boasted of their massive kill counts. The only time Sinon had seen that look was in Kyouji's face as he attacked Kirito in her home, just after he had tried to do God-know's-what to her. Sinon shivered that the thought that Shiro was anything like her past friend.

"...I need to talk to Kirito about this..." Sinon thought aloud and under her breath, "He'll know what to do."

Soon, they were half-way to the entrance to the dungeon. Right after the group reached that marker, the sound of Shiro's «Dragunov» firing in quick secession peppered the air. It was almost rhythmic how the girl fired the rifle, smoothly and in tempo. Sinon found herself jogging to keep up with the rest of the group as the majority of them picked up their pace in response to the gunfire.

"Damn...How'd she get ahead of us?" Hellfire said, his microphone catching the comment.

"There won't be any mobs left to kill when we get there!" One member of the squadron said, sounding annoyed.

"That midget always steals the show any time she here..." Said another.

"C'mon guys! We can't be shown up after last time!" Buzz-saw roared.

The rubble of the streets became slightly blurred as the group broke out into a full sprint, silently panting as they dug deep into their stamina pools to reach the point as fast as possible. The two hired guns that were with Sinon used their AGI builds to get a full three seconds ahead of the group, weapons drawn and ready for when they reached the position of the player known as the "White Death".

Sinon found herself annoyed with the whole situation as a whole. The squadron was a group of idiots that cared about nothing but fighting, their leader seemed to have an issue with her despite the fact that she was one of the main reasons that he was still alive to lead his squadron in the first place, and now Shiro seemed to think that fighting all by herself was better than having support like a normal sniper in the game would need. She had an assignment to take care of for school soon as well, and didn't want this raid to take any longer than it had to. Then after that, she was going to hang out with Asuna and Kirito in ALO the following morning. She didn't want to have to cancel because of something stupid like homework as a result of idiots not taking a game at least a little seriously. Sinon took a breath, calming down before her emotions could take over.

When Sinon exhaled, they were rounding the corner that would allow them to see the point where they were told to reach. The massive hole in the ground was like the gaping maw of some centuries-old monster, crawling with smaller beasts with grotesque mutations. Eyes glinted in through the darkness of the sink-hole, razor sharp claws swiping at the air as they climbed out of the void. Each of them would shatter into thousands of polygons the instant their heads reached over the threshold, their deaths signaled by the methodical volley of rounds that came from Shiro. The smaller mobs, those that could be taken out with three or four assault rifle rounds at most, were left alone. Only those that were bigger than a dog were being targeted. There wasn't a single sign of bullet gashes in the concrete, meaning that she had yet to miss a single shot.

Sinon couldn't help but feel impressed that the girl had been able to do so well. That didn't stop her from taking advantage of the situation. Redirecting, Sinon raced up the fire-exit of the closed building, flying up the stairs three at a time so that she could reach the structure's second floor. It was the first building that had a position to over look the sink-hole in its entirety. The rubble and garbage that was strewn about the floor was of no concern for the blue haired sniper as she reached the window and fell onto her stomach.

Popping open the lens covers, Sinon looked down the scope and took aim. Finding a target, Sinon fired without much time to aim, going more on instinct than the «Bullet Circle's» guidance to aim the round. It flew true, slamming to the chest of the closest monster. While it wasn't a critical hit, the amount of damage that Sinon could do with her anti-material rifle more than compensated, and the monster was ended in one shot. This continued for about four or five instances, Sinon's rate of fire twice that of Shiro's. It had to be, since anything that Shiro decided to fire at would be dead in the next instant. Sinon had to use her rifle's higher damage output to compensate for Shiro's frightening accuracy. Before the group knew it, the entire area was littered with shell casings but vacant of monsters.

"Was that all of them?" Buzz-saw asked over the radio.

"Yeah, there's no more left," One random member of the squadron said.

"What took so long?" Shiro's calm voice come over the channel with a sigh.

"It's like you want me to kick your butt." Hellfire said over the radio, growling.

"You're always welcome to try, big guy," Shiro said, her white form appearing on the far side of the sink hole at the foot of the tallest structure in the vicinity, "But don't we have places to be?"

"She's right," The small strategist of the squadron said, "Thanks to her, we are back on schedule. We need to keep it that way."

"Fine, but this isn't over, White death," Hellfire said with a low growl.

Only with Sinon's game-enhanced eyesight could she tell that Shiro had shrugged where she stood, "Fine then. See you down there."

And with that, the small albino avatar of the girl jumped and fell into the gaping maw of the sink hole.

* * *

The lights of Tokyo glittered under Ume Shima's penthouse apartment, like diamonds that had been arranged for her liking.

The air about the luxurious abode was nothing short of expensive. The idols and pottery, artworks and sculptures all added to the undeniable fact that its owner was one of the richest and most powerful women in the country. If not the world. The bath was comparable to that of a small swimming pool, the delicate bottles of soap that lined its perimeter were more valuable than the monthly salary of some of those that worked for the business woman. The crisp uniforms that adorned the handsome, yet robust bodyguards at the door were tailor made and worth a fortune as well. Wealth didn't even to begin to describe the lavish furniture, the wines, the appliances, and the dishes that the women was currently dining on.

The strong, tall American visitor that sat across from the women seemed to submit subconsciously to the woman, despite the fact that he could easily end her before the guards had the chance to stop him. The overbearing pressure that the woman who lead the Shima Corporation was more than enough to dismiss such thoughts as suicide. As he took a bite of the world-class sushi before him, nimbly using the chopsticks that had taken him days of practice to learn, he cleared his throat and looked up ever so slightly at the woman sitting across from him.

When she looked at him, signalling he had her attention, the man spoke in a polite tone and with perfect Japanese, "Thank you very much for allowing me to dine with such stunning company, Lady Shima. I cannot express how honored I alone feel to be able to share an audience with you in your very own home."

"Please, think nothing of it, Mr. Fitzgerald," Ume Shima responded with an excited tone, pronouncing the American's name perfectly and naturally, "The same goes for me, as well. I could think of no better way to spend such a peaceful night. How is your family doing, by the way?"

"As well as they could be," Fitzgerald let out a nervous, courteous laugh, "My sons are about to enter there third year in high school, so they will learn what it is like to work for their money soon."

"Ah, what a wonderful time in one's life," The woman said, gently placing her slender hand on her cheek as she gazed off like she was day-dreaming, "How nostalgic...I remember when I had my first day of work, how excited I was to start my career in my father's company."

"I can imagine it was quite nerve-racking as well," The American gave a hearty laugh.

"Oh, nothing like that!" The head of the Shima family said, letting a small laugh escape her smiling lips, "I couldn't wait to start, I assure you."

"Ah, well for me-" Fitzgerald started to say, but stopped mid-sentence as a slender and tall man entered the room.

Walking right past the guards, who paid him no heed, the man stopped promptly after reaching the right side of the woman sitting at the table. He wore a black long coat, the high-raising collar reaching up to his ears, a scarf around his neck. The man had a sinister smile about him, leading Fitzgerald to think that the mysterious figure was being targeted and he simply didn't know it. Something about the aura he put out did not fit the image that the man carried, the normal winter apparel was present where the suit of armor should have been. Really, Fitzgerald could remember some of his comrades Fromm his days in the army having a similar air about them. The bloodlust that the man was putting out belonged nowhere except for the battlefield.

"Lady Shima," The man said, giving a slight bow, "I bring my report."

"Excellent," The woman said, standing soon thereafter, "Mr. Fitzgerald, I'm terribly sorry for cutting our meeting short, but as you can see, something important has come up. If you wish to continue this, I can reschedule for the same time tomorrow at the hotel at which you are staying?"

"I would be glad to have you for dinner, Lady Shima," Fitzgerald said, knowing that defying such an appointment would be a mistake, "I shall have a dinner prepared by the staff's finest chefs."

"Until then," The woman said, smiling, "I trust you can show yourself out?"

"Of course, Lady Shima," The American said, standing and giving a slight and courteous bow, "Until then, have a good night."

"And you as well," The delicate voice of the woman drifted through the air as Fitzgerald saw himself out of the lavish apartment penthouse.

The moment the door closed behind the visitor, the slender yakuza member asked, "Another suitor?"

"Please, don't joke about things like that," Ume said, deadpanning before rolling her eyes, "Honestly, you and your men have no manners."

"Who says we need 'em?" The man said, shrugging, "Not like it was ever in the job description."

"Shut up, and quit wasting my time," The woman said, all traces of the nice and delicate persona from moments before having vanished, "So what news do you bring of my late husband's child."

"The girl's yours to," The man said, shaking his head, "I personally went to the place and talked with the owner. They understand what's expected of them. They also know what'll happen if they don't play nice. You have nothing to worry about, Lady Shima."

"Oh but I do," The woman said, slouching onto a couch after pouring a glass of fine wine, "When it comes to that eyesore, I can't help but worry."

"Oh?"

"Yes," the woman said, sighing, "She carries the family name, my face, but runs around with that same annoying attitude of her father. She doesn't think about how her actions affect the family, just like _he_ did. Especially with what happened three years ago, I can't have her anywhere near the public eye."

"I guess that has something to do with why you called us in?" The man said, the hunger in his eyes undeniable as his shark's grin appeared once again.

"Yes," Ume said, looking over at the man through the corner of her eye, "I need her silenced for good, but we can't kill her. The mental hospital angle has been looking pretty good so far, so we simply need to keep her there."

"Uh huh."

"Which brings us to our next item," The woman took another sip from her wine, "You will be in charge of her training. Make sure that both she and everyone else knows that we've deemed her fit enough to head back into society. After that, we simply need to follow through with the rest of the plan. I assume you know what that means?"

"Of course, it's my favorite part," The man said, a low laugh leaving his lips, "...I simply have to _break her_."

* * *

As we walked through the molding and rusting pipes under the city, I was near the front of the group with my pistols at the ready. The monsters that were popping up out of nowhere were fast and agile, making the heavy hitters of the raiding squadron work harder. Thus, Hellfire decided it would be smarter to have the more accurate players lead so that they could cripple the enemy enough for the machine-gunners to destroy what was left.

Since my job was to stop them before they could ensue chaos about the group, I mainly aimed for the legs or movement devices that the mobs had. It saved me plenty of ammunition to do so, since it only took one shot for me to debilitate the enemy instead of three to kill them. Sinon, whom had a machine pistol for a secondary, stayed in the back so she wouldn't be exposed to close combat.

The blue haired sniper that I idolized ever since I lead eyes on her had given me a strange look, one that hid skepticism behind a mask of ice. If I wasn't forced to pay close attention to everything around me, I would probably have found myself worried that I had done something to earn distrust from her. However, I couldn't remember anything that I had done that would have elicited such a reaction after our short separation.

I shook my head, shrugging off the feelings until I could have a chance to deal with them. For now, I was simply happy to be in the same raiding group as the Bullet of Bullets co-champion, and that was that. As another swarm of mutant rat creatures flooded towards us, their fist-sized maw chattering evilly, I completely forgot about the strange look that my fellow sniper had given me as I pulled the triggers on my pistols.

One after the other, rounds struck home into the small legs of the monsters that were the size of Hellfire's chest cavity. Their blood-curdling screeches as the machine gunners ruined them soon thereafter forced another migraine on my head. It had been going on the entire time, reminding me that I needed to build a tolerance to the sounds before it could become an issue later on. The slippery concrete that was under us, wet from the small streams of sewage that had been festering for centuries, was forcing the accuracy and agility of most of us with an [Unsure Footing] de-buff. It didn't effect much of us now, since the tunnel was narrow enough to make accuracy merely a bonus instead of a necessity.

"We're almost to the boss room, so save any special moves or items for then. Got it?" Hellfire's voice came over the radio just as the most recent group of monsters had been dealt with.

His comment reminded me that he had yet to fire his minigun since the [Cyber-Demon's] attack. In addition, the [Clairvoyant Arithmetician] and Buzz-saw had yet to show off their prowess in the massive fights beforehand, opting to stay behind and watch while complaining. It unnerved me that they would just sit back and let their comrades run to the slaughter like they did, but I wasn't a part of the squadron, and therefore didn't have any right to object as long as it didn't affect me personally.

The massive door loomed before us. The tunnels that we had been swathing through had suddenly opened up without me realizing it. The massive cavern was surrounded by pipes from which waterfalls of soiled water fell. There was actual vegetation surrounding the expanse, a strange light high above us providing the energy to the plants that this game had made to almost never exist. Small animals, some with one too many tails or an extra arm, scampered about the small forest, their relatively gentle chirps and sounds wafting through the air. The sound of nature in a game where almost no peaceful mobs existed was enough to catch me off guard instantly.

"Yo, earth to the space-case in white," Hellfire said, alerting me to his presence.

I turned around to find that both he and his two assistants, Buzz-saw and the boy in glasses with his nose deep in his PDA. "What is it?"

"We need to make sure that we use as little supplies as possible," Hellfire said, sighing, "I hate to admit it, but you are the best scout we have. Can you hop in there and see what's what?"

I shrugged, "Fine. See you in a bit."

"No back up?" Hellfire said, cocking an eyebrow, "Aren't sniper's sitting ducks by themselves in CQC?"

"Pfft," I scoffed, not even turning towards the man as I continued towards the door, "Don't even bother."

The massive door opened with a creak like a drawn out siren, the dark room that lay beyond completely obscured by shadows. The eyes of the raiding group shot towards the door the second the sound entered their ears. I could feel their eyes on me as I walked alone towards the intimidating doors of the mid-boss room. Most of all, I could feel Sinon's ice-like gaze, like the needles of frostbite stabbing at my back. No matter what I tried, I couldn't shake off that feeling.

I moved through the door without really noticing that the other recruited players had followed me until it was too late.

"For a girl, you sure have balls," One voice sounded behind me, the strong tone tellingly me it belonged to the player with black, red accented hair.

"Huh?" I said, turning to face the sound of the voice seeing the faces of the pair as well as Sinon's stone cold expression.

"What this idiot is tryin to say is that you're crazy," Said the other, the one with the grey accents to his short hair.

"Who the heck thinks it's a great idea to waltz into a boss room by themselves anyways?" The one with red accents growled, shaking his head disappointingly, "It's like you have the words 'I'm suicidal' in flavored text over your name!"

"..." I looked at the two of them with a blank look, cocking my head slightly to show my confusion, "...And you are?"

"Ridge," The one with red accents said with a grumble.

"Blaze," The one with grey accents responded.

"Those are...interesting names?" I said, my tone flat.

"Yeah, and 'White Ghost' is any better," Ridge said, putting air quotes around my name with a harsh look in his eyes.

I sighed, shaking my head, "Yeah, you have a point. Please, call me 'Shiro'. My avatar's handle just reminds me of how stupid I was when I first got here."

"I dunno," Blaze said, a small grin tugging at his lips, "I think I might just call you by what everyone else does...right, 'White Death'?"

I turned away with a small sigh and a shake of my head, "Either doesn't matter to me."

"Wait up, Shiro," Sinon's voice interrupted what the two hired guns were about to say, "Don't do something stupid."

"Like what?" I said, turning around fully to face the blue haired sniper and stopping.

"Running off by yourself to fight a boss solo would be one," Sinon said, eyes level as she jabbed a finger at the two hired guns, 'Ignoring support when it's offered would be another."

"I don't need 'support'," I said, shaking my head and turning towards the center of the massive space we were in to look for the boss, "Plus, I wasn't going to solo this thing anyways, I was just going to scout it then bolt before it gets me."

"And the leader guy sent you to do it by yourself?" Ridge said behind me, "Wow, I'm glad that I declined the offer to join that squadron."

"He didn't-"

My response was cut off by the sight of the expansive room before us lighting up due to my entrance. The overhead lights that reminded me of a hospital's ceiling illuminated the dark space, columns with embedded lights around the circumference of the circular room glowed the generic pale blue. Exposed wires that hung from sections of destroyed ceiling stayed completely still, nothing having disturbed them for centuries. There was a collection colonies of moss and grasses that formed on the edge of the room, like the vegetation from outside the door we'd come through had slowly made its way through the cracks and seams of the room's paneling. Ridge and Blaze suddenly dropped low, moving to get behind the nearest pillars for cover. Sinon, reacting due to the pairs reaction, followed Ridge to the pillar on the right, while I followed Blaze to the one on the left. Sinon was peering out to try and catch a glimpse of whatever the pair had spotted, but couldn't seem to find anything.

Upon a second look, I saw what had the two hired guns so alarmed. The lights were flickering. The ground had scorch marks staining the steel surface. There were skeletons in a pile in one edge of the room, one of them looking like it was just finished off and glistening with saliva in the pale light. In addition to the scorch marks, there were a good amount of blood splatters in the room as well, though they were crusted and old. Whatever the boss was in this room, it didn't seem like the type to wait for attackers to take the initiative.

"Did you see it?" Blaze said, his eyes on the room's ceiling.

"No, not yet," Ridge said, his gaze focused on the room's marred and stained ground, "What is this thing, part chameleon?"

"Wouldn't surprise me," Blaze said, shaking his head, then turning to me, "Hey, short stuff, you have any skills that would be useful right now?"

"This is why I work alone," I said, shaking my head as I walked out of the safety of the pillar.

I continued on, my movements not even noticed by the other three players until I was at the center of the corridor. The two hired guns that were silently looking out towards the room before me finally saw me when I entered into their peripheral vision, their expressions changing from intensive to irritated in an instant.

"Get back here, idiot!" Blaze called, his tone menacing and low despite the fact he'd shouted after me.

"She really is suicidal," Ridge said, shaking his head.

"Get back here, Shiro!" Sinon yelled after me, trying to go after me.

"Nope, not gonna happen," I looked back briefly to see that Ridge had grabbed Sinon by her arm to stop her from charging after me, "Sorry, by we need your gun in case the midget over there dies."

"Let me go!" Sinon refuted, the sound of her struggling accompanying her yelling, "She's going to be taken out!"

"So?" Blaze said, his tone so monotone it made me glad I couldn't see his face in that moment.

"Her fault for being stupid," Ridge said.

I shook my head, ignoring the three other players as I charged towards the center of the boss room. The lights continued to flicker, the uniform surface under my feet turning to the scarred grounds of the rooms center. The skeletons that were seemingly thrown to the side gleamed under the pale lighting of the room, the eye sockets of the long-dead animals seeming to stare at me in terror. I vigorously scanned the room, trying to find the boss before it found me. I couldn't help but think that it was hiding because of a sneak-attack pattern, waiting out of sight until a player walked into its attack range. My paranoia for those kind of things, the worst-case scenario, was something that came from my real world feelings about where I was living. The eyes that stared at me wherever i went.

It was because of that thought and fear that I wasn't instantly killed the moment I'd stepped into the room's circular floors.

* * *

The boss appeared behind Shiro like the air around it were nothing but an illusion.

Hexagonal panels of space turned into the shape of a dragon. That dragon, however, was made of nothing but metal and robotic parts. Where strong, rippling muscles of flesh should have been, cables and synthetic tendons that looked like something from a science fiction video game from when Sinon was born. Its wings were lined with smooth panels over a robust frame and servos at its joints, with a grey monotonous fabric in place of skin. Its claws were honed steel and had a surface that held a chrome-like luster. Its arms, legs, and tail were thick, had thick metal plating in place of skin, and had enough muscle-cables to make it seem real. Metal protrusions ran all the way from the nape of its neck to the end of its tail, which was tipped with a flaming torch searing the air with a pale blue flame. its eyes were the same pale blue as the ceiling lights, its maw lined with sinister teeth sharpened to a wicked point.

Sinon was so taken aback by the power she felt from the boss that she couldn't get the words out to warn Shiro.

However, just before the mechanical monster could strike down the slowly walking sniper player in white, the pale girl reacted at the very last moment. Becoming a blur due to her [AGI] stat, Shiro suddenly jerked to the side and out of the way of the monster's attack range. Going to fast, and dropping from somewhere on the roof, the boss overshot the player and landed at the center of the room with a mechanical and mighty roar.

Appearing in green text above the boss, accompanied by three health bars, was the name: [Aristov's Revenge].

Shiro wasted no time, ripping out her pistols from their holsters and firing them into the monster's face. Sinon's yells were lost in the sound of the boss' roar of pain, the lens' on its eyes having been suddenly shattered by the small sniper's frighteningly accurate volley of fire. As the glass that used to be the robot monster's eye-lenses turned to red polygons and dissipated into the air, its claws swept over the area that it had seen Shiro last. Though, it soon became apparent with how accurate its attacks were soon after, it was using some other form of detection to find and target the small sniper.

Shiro suddenly, and with frightening speed, raced towards the monster. Sinon, not even able to scream for Shiro to start running _away_ from the boss, soon realized that she'd be on the other side of the room before she could finish yelling. Sure enough, the white-clad player as laying prone with her rifle trained on the boss.

As soon as the monster was turned around, Shiro's rounds slammed into its chest. The metal shattered from its breast in ridged shards that rocketed through the air, embedding themselves into the ground. Sinon watched from her place behind the pillar as she watched behind cover. Ridge and Blaze watched from their respective potions, shaking their heads in annoyance, instead of disbelief. They looked on as Shiro blew more and more chunks of armor from the boss' front, gripping their own weapons as if resisting the temptation to get a piece of the action as well.

Suddenly, the chrome accented claws of the boss erupted into a sinister red. Sinon's eyes widened in realization as she noticed that the red color was caused by the same mechanism that worked for Kirito's [Photon Sword], the only real close-combat weapon that Gun Gale Online even held on the market. Before Sinon could even yell for Shiro to look out for the unforgiving weapons, the monster lounged forward with a mighty roar like steel crashing together.

"Shiro!" Sinon yelled, "We need to get out of here! We have enough information!"

"If you want to leave, then leave!" She yelled back, not even breaking stride as she shouldered her rifle in favor of her twin side-arms and unleashing a torrent of small-caliber fure into the boss' chest, "I'm not going to stop you."

"What are you-?" Sinon said under her breath, but was cut off by Ridge.

"Alright, then short stuff," He said, stepping out of cover. "I say it's time you stop hogging the spotlight."

Blaze followed soon after, pulling out a submachine gun, "There goes the plan I guess."

"Yeah, like we were ever going to get her stubborn butt outa here to take the kill from under those idiots' noses," Ridge rolled his eyes, then directed his attention towards Shiro, "I'll be the tank! Blaze'll help with DPS! You don't have a choice, so find somewhere where you won't aggro this thing!"

"You guys are hilarious!" Shiro responded, her pistols empty as she grabbed a pair of grenades from her hip, "Just hit this thing until it dies, and just dodge what it dishes out!"

"What are you twelve?!" Ridge roared, "What kind of a strategy is that?"

Shiro didn't respond, hurling the grenades at the boss as it steadily tracked her movements. She moved like water, dodging lasers fired from the monster's mouth, hands, and wings from crystal ball-like points. Even as she moved through the air, Shiro somehow found it possible to fire her rifle exactly at the right moment, throwing the monster off-balance enough to force its attacks into the air or the ground around her. It was as if she were forcing the monster to miss rather than dodge the attacks completely.

Sinon sighed, shaking her head before she could think too deeply on the subject of Shiro's game-breaking abilities as she fell prone to the side of the pillar, popping the scope covers off of her sniper rifle's sight and taking aim. The image of the boss came into focus, the sight of it crystal clear in her eyes through the lens. Then, just as she saw Shiro fire a round into the monster's chest again, knocking it sideways so that its damaged chest filled Sinon's sights, the blue-haired sniper let loose a massive .50 caliber anti-material round.

The shot slammed into the base of the boss' neck, the monster having crouched down just enough for Sinon's shot to miss the cracked area that Shiro was repeatedly hitting with her smaller rounds. The cables that attached at that point were blown off, flinging violently away. Steam, or some pressurized gas, hissed into the atmosphere from the cables' end. Sinon made a _tch_ sound in annoyance at her shot, but the bullet did its job.

The boss had looked away from Shiro, whom had been hounded by the monster's onslaught, and directed its gaze towards her. However, the two hired guns that had joined her were already putting down enough fire to take the aggro from Sinon at place it on themselves. Ridge, brandishing a massive machine gun, let loose a massive volume of fire while his friend placed accurate fire into the joints of the boss to try and get it to be off balance.

Even with all of them working together as a makeshift team, the boss' health hadn't gone down much at all. Only a chip off of its life was taken, and Sinon could barely tell whether or not that was her imagination. Ridge and Blaze moved to dodge the boss' incoming fire as Shiro readied herself for a sniping position.

Surprisingly, Shiro turned around and ran straight for the walls at full speed. When she arrived at the edge of the room, she didn't even slow down as she hurled herself into the air at the wall. Sinon couldn't believe her eyes as Shiro ran two, then three steps up the walls before she lunged upwards at the last possible second and grabbed hold of a dangling cable that hung from the ceiling. Sinon could hear the small white-clad player grunt slightly with effort as she climbed up the cable with only her hands. Legs shooting out at just the right moment to maintain her center of gravity, Shiro rocketed up the cable as if she had a jet pack. All the while, Ridge and Blaze were keeping the boss busy.

Sinon pulled back the bolt of her rifle, jettisoning the empty shell casing from the rifle's breach and chambering a new round as she slid the bolt forward again. Taking aim, she fired another massive round from her sniper rifle. This time around, Sinon made sure to compensate for the monster's dodging of her team members' fire, and the bullet stayed true as it rammed into the cracks that Shiro had been slowly creating in its chest piece.

[Aristov's Revenge] roared angrily, its wings of synthetic skin and limbs of cybernetic components flailed around like a wounded animal would. It reared up on its hind legs, its long neck lifting its massive head into the air as it let out a defiant and engaged roar. Sinon grit her teeth slightly, her fingers curling around the grip of her rifle tighter as she fought for composure. Despite the armor that this monster had lost, there was almost no damage done to it. It was as if everyone present, most likely some of the most skilled in the game, were under-leveled and didn't have the stats to combat the boss to begin with.

Then, out of nowhere, a blaster bolt zipped down from the ceiling into the hole that Sinon had created, albeit at an extremely oblique angle. Then, just after the bolt entered the chest of the monster, an orb of blue lightning erupted from the center of the boss' mass. It roared in pain, or at least the cybernetic being's version of pain.

Sinon looked up to see Shiro in a strange and impressive position. Having wrapped the cable that she had climbed up to the ceiling, Shiro hung upside down like a bat. The material of her [Ghost Assassin's Robes] which hung from her waist down, made her look like an upside down lily flower. She held in her hands a machine-gun size rifle with a space between two barrels with no muzzles. Aside from the strange configuration, Sinon thought that the weapon looked like an ordinary assault rifle.

"Where the heck did someone like her get a rail-gun!?" Blaze yelled up at the hanging sniper with an indignant roar over the lighting orbs oppressive crackling sound.

"You can have it, for a price." Shiro said, putting the rail-gun's stock to her cheek as she took aim again, "I'd stand clear for now, though."

Not asking twice, the two of them retreated to the sides of the room just as Shiro pulled the trigger on the weapon. Sparks flew from the beginning of the space between the two rails of electro-magnets in the weapon, and the projectile launched seemingly instantaneously. The small sniper must have loaded some sort of variant of the weapon's ammo, since instead of a lighting-blue bolt, the missile that she'd fired was a sinister red flaming mass.

The instant the projectile slammed into the boss, the monster erupted into flames. The fabric that stretched over its wings began to disintegrate like film over a fire. The armor the covered the monster's frame turned to a charred-black hue, like it were caked in oil or coal. The boss roared in simulated agony, sounding more enraged than hurt.

However, the bars that hovered next to it, displaying its health, remained the same as they had before Shiro had fired either of the two rounds.

"This thing's unbeatable!?" Shiro grumbled, the headset she wore catching the words as she muttered them under her breath.

"We need to get outa her, pint size!" Ridge said, jamming another ammo belt into his machine gun, "That toy of yours ain't doing jack!"

"But-!" Shiro began to protest, but was cut off by an agitated Blaze.

"Can it and move, midget!" Blaze yelled, turning for the massive door that lead back to the raiding squadron.

Sinon could just hear the white-haired payer cursed under her breath as she rushed past her with her astonishing [AGI] stat. They all reached the door at around the same time, narrowly dodging the ranged attacks from [Aristov's Revenge]. That is, until Sinon took a laser beam to the leg.

The white-hot beam sliced clean through the limb, causing Sinon to stumble to the ground in pain. The pain dampeners that the game employed kept her from feeling what the wound would actually feel like, but that didn't exactly make it pleasant to go through. Shiro, thankfully, immediately noticed that Sinon wasn't next to her and turned around to pick her up off the ground. As the boss hammered the ground around them, the beams and attacks barely missing the pair of female snipers, Shiro lifted Sinon up and started towards the door. The blue haired girl had trouble holding onto her massive rifle, the dark metal barrel scrapping at the metal ground under them. The monster was chasing them out of the room now, the world shaking with each of its massive steps. Bits of foliage and soils from the ceiling were shaken from their positions and fell to the ground around them as they struggled for the door. At the speed they were going, they would be able to reach the exit before the boss could get close enough to hit them with its attacks.

But the door refused to open, despite the pounding fists of the two hired guns. Sinon and Shiro were doing what they could to draw the monster's attention so that the pair could the door open in time, but were not as effective with Sinon missing a limb. The small, white-haired sniper threw a couple of grenades, trying to throw off the monster's aim, but to no avail.

"It just had to be one of _those_ boss rooms, did it?" Shiro said, vocalizing everyone's exact thought.

* * *

We were in one of the worst situations I had ever been in.

Fighting a boss with no obvious weak points, in a room that made running away almost impossible. On top of that, the door was programmed to open only when one side was completely knocked out. Honestly, the GMs' not putting something like this in the Patch Notes was a huge oversight. Sinon had lost her leg to a shot of super heated plasma as we were running. She mumbled something like "Dammit, not again..." and I had to almost die in order to save her. The two hired guns that were with us were firing away at the monster's unbreakable armor, the same armor that had withstood a shot from the rail-gun I had earned during the last fight.

"Any bright ideas, short stuff?" Ridge growled as he jammed another clip into his sub-machine gun, "Its your fault we're in this mess."

"Uh huh, because I'm the one that asked for help and wanted you to come," I replied sarcastically, planting another bullet into the boss' chest, "Just keep shooting, and quit complaining."

"I'm _really_ glad that I never have to see you again, midget," Ridge said, his finger squeezing the trigger of his gun

"Likewise," I said, shaking my head as the shot I fired only knocked the boss off balance.

The monster known as [Aristov's Revenge] was slowly getting closer and closer, with no sign of slowing down. Sinon was ignoring our arguing, and mainly focusing on shooting the massive cyber-dragon. We were all taking damage from the concussive blasts and the heat rays that were bombarding our position, making the situation all the more dire. The scorch marks from the attacks barely cooled down before the next volley reached us. Thankfully, its movement speed was drastically low when it wanted to get somewhere, which as something that I didn't expect when I thought of how well the beast blocked my shots from various weapons.

"Damn...Looks like I'll have to use it," Blaze suddenly said, putting away his massive weapon.

"No complaints here, bro," Ridge said, sparing a momentary glance at his partner, "Just make sure that the costs come out of your pockets this time."

Blaze ruefully shook his head, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"What are you two talking about over there?" Sinon asked, her voice as cold as ice.

Blaze didn't respond, only starting to mess with his inventory. Before either Sinon or I could ask anything more, a massive grenade launcher materialized in Blaze's grasp. It looked like something from the Vietnam war, with a standing rectangular sight and a wooden stock and a stub-nosed barrel. However, the barrel and body of the weapon had glowing green accents, with a bio-hazard symbol on the side of the weapon. I blinked, to make sure that I was seeing correctly.

"Its a Corrosive DoT grenade launcher," Blaze said, lowering his weapon and starting to crouch, "I would suggest you take cover...this thing's splash damage is bigger than that monster."

I didn't have the time to believe him, since Sinon grabbed a tight hold of my wrist and ripped me down to the hard metal floor. Soon afterwards, Blaze pulled the trigger of the strange new weapon, and the two mercenaries dropped to the floor.

The glowing green projectile flew agonizingly slowly through the air, an eerie and ominous whistling sound as it sailed towards its target. The boss roared, its claws glinting in the florescent light as it locked in on the small mass heading towards it.

The instant the grenade reached its target, it exploded into a shower of fragments and toxic liquid. The sizzle of metal being corroded away sent a shiver down my spine as the boss, agonized cries echoed through the stale air. Its metal turned from shiny and reflective to coarse and a rusted reddish brown, the transformation spreading like a disease across its body. The impact had been around its chest, so the cracks and damage that Sinon and I had inflicted upon it was multiplied. Soon, entire chunks of the chest-pieces were falling off like the leaves of a tree in the fall. Sinon, unlike me, was able to shake off the shock from this sight and take aim.

What shook me out of my daze was the imploding sound of Sinon's massive sniper rifle launching the killing blow against the monster. Before I had even thought to look, Sinon had found the boss' core, the heart of [Aristov's Revenge], and shattered it into a million polygons. Without the source of its health, the boss' remaining HP dropped into obscurity, leaving the DoT of the corrosive shot that Ridge had fired to finish it off.

Just like that, the hardest boss that I had ever faced was defeated. Just like that, I was forced to face the reality that I had almost died because I was too weak.

Before any of us could say anything the doors opened up, revealing the entire raiding team that we had left behind. They stared at us, with their weapons drawn and ready for a fight. That is, until they saw the massive [ _Congratulations!_ ] floating above a massive of shattering red polygons.

"...What is going on?" Hellfire said, roaring above the whispering crowd of bloodthirsty raid players. "...And why is the blue-haired one missing a leg?"

* * *

 _Two hours later..._

"Are you on position?" A voice rumbled through the radio.

"Uh huh," A man said, his sharks grin slowly stretching across his lips, "Four more hours to go until the start, correct?"

"Yeah," The voice said a small, predatory laugh, "Four too long in my opinion."

The man set down the radio and leaned back in his chair. It was in the middle of the night and he'd just turned off the car to make sure he wasn't spotted as he lied in wait. It was cold for late August, cold enough for his breath to form small white clouds with each exhale. He didn't mind all that much, never so much as shivering as the last of the car's heated air left the atmosphere. His friends from the yakuza always made jokes with him about it, saying that the reason he was never bothered by cold weather was because his blood was cold to begin with. They knew the sort of stuff that the Boss had him do, everything from assassination to torture.

In any case, he was assigned as an errand boy for now. Granted, it was far more of a hassle than the description lead him to believe at first. It made him all the more happy when he realized on his first day of assignment that his client was not above killing and blackmail. In fact, Ume Shima was probably the most corrupt woman he had ever met in his entire life. He had been on more jobs in the last two months than his entire life's work put together prior to working for the head of the Shima Corporation.

"I can't wait to get back that that stupid girl for messing with us..." The voice said, a sinister snicker interrupting his words monetarily, "I mean, she kills four of our own, then hides in a mental hospital. Now she makes fun of our guild in Gun Gale! When I see her I'll..."

"Its just a game, y'know," The man said, shaking his head, "So what if she's good at a game? Doesn't make her any harder to break in the real world."

"...You were there too, y'know," the voice said, snickering, "I could tell it was hard for you not to attack her then and there."

"I'm not going to deny that," The man said, sighing, "She even _smelled_ the same as she does in the real world..."

"What, you like her or something? Or you just creeping out on her, bro?" The voice said, simply meant as a jab.

"...Who knows..." The mans said, his eyes looking up at the roof of his car.

He tried to sleep, rest for three hours so he could be rested enough for the long day he had ahead of him, but there wasn't any helping it. He couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen in a mere four hours. He would finally see the Mashiro Shima he had watched for years. He would finally be able to act on the desires in his chest, to find someone that had the same desires he did. He could tell from the footage of that fateful day that she had killed those four kids from his gang. He could still feeling the pounding in his heart as he realized a desire in his heart that he never thought he would have.

 _I found someone like me...She's like me deep down._

It was obvious from the start that he wanted to meet her, to see if she was what he thought she was. He didn't have to, since the videos of her curling up into a ball whenever there was conflict with other patients showed him what she truly needed. He had lost hope and interest in the situation at that point, thinking that she was miraculously lucky to have killed all four. He brushed off his desires and moved in with his twisted life for the yakuza.

Since he made his living killing and fighting, he chose to play GGO in his off days, so he could at least somewhat enjoy himself. He played with his friend and they usually teamed up to do mercenary work for other guilds.

That was when he saw the leader boards for the game, which were updated weekly. There he spotted her name: "White Ghost."

The most deadly sniper in the entire game, with some of the highest amount of hours played and the highest accuracy record anyone had ever seen. He had found her. At last, the one that he had seen in that video, the one that had killed four men a head taller than her with a pocket knife. One that was able to get him to feel something more than the desire to harm others. In Gun Gale Online was where she was, the personality that Mashiro Shima lacked in the real world, the one that didn't care for human life and was able to kill all in front of her with unrealistic success.

It was then that he realized that the Mashiro in the real world was holding the Mashiro he wanted to meet inside her, keeping her prisoner with the useless chains of regret and guilt. He realized that, if he could break her...then he could meet her. If he could get her to see how stupid and useless those feeling were, he would have another soul as twisted as his own. A true soulmate that he could find entertainment by being near her.

Her mother hated her, her father dead. Everyone in the mental hospital that she was sent to was under the Shima Corporations payroll, and were ordered to make sure that Mashiro never recovered from her madness. He would be able to take her from the Shima's grasps, slipping in his own brainwashing in the process of breaking her, so that she will want to join the yakuza with him...

His grin grew even more, his arms crossed and tightening around his lean chest.

"You're laughing again, Shin." The voice said, making a _tsk tsk_ sound, "...I thought the Boss told you to stop that."

"Is the Boss here?" The man, Shin, said.

"Fair enough," The voice from the radio scoffed.

Shin stared at the window that belonged to Mashiro's room, the light flickering on. It wasn't all that surprising, since the girl spent most of her day online and the nights for any other activities like bathing or eating. She was convinced that the game world of GGO was going to allow her to get over her fears born of that fateful night Shin remembered so vividly. The very thought that a world like GGO was the place Mashiro had chosen for her rehabilitation made Shin chuckle. A world who's only real way of advancement was killing, of committing the act of ending another's life over and over again until it was routine. Shin considered himself lucky that GGO was the world that she had chosen, since it would make his job much easier.

Shin sighed, knowing that thinking too much about what was to come would only make it harder to rest. He looked at the opaque plastic bottle that was in the cup holder to his left. The label was from a lotion company for infants, owned by the Shima Corporation, but the clear liquid that was held in the bottle was something more useful than mere lotion. There was enough chloroform to knock out an elephant in that bottle.

Shin picked up the sealed bottle, sloshing the liquid around as he gazed at the orange light of Mashiro's bedroom in the background.

"Its almost time, my little Mashiro..." Shin grinned, just has the girl in question appeared at the window, "...Soon...Very soon..."


End file.
